Excerpted with permission from Arbor Farms Market Newsletter, October 2011.

In March of this year Hungary introduced a new law that states seeds must be checked for GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) before they are introduced to the market. However, some GMO seeds made it to farmers without their being aware of it. As a result, almost 1,000 acres of corn found to have been mistakenly grown with genetically modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary.

In the mid- ’90s Monsanto introduced seeds genetically engineered to withstand its Roundup brand of herbicide. Today those "Roundup Ready" crops are planted all across the U.S. — 94 percent of soybeans and more than 70 percent of corn and cotton contain the Roundup-resistant gene. But when the land is dosed with a single herbicide for years on end the ecosystems adapt. Roundup-defying "superweeds" are getting out of control and the problem is only accelerating because the resistant weeds are driving out their non-resistant counterparts. According to Mother Jones: "These weeds adapt faster and more vigorously than their weed cousins, choking fields and clogging irrigation so badly water can’t pass through."

The actions in Hungary should be a major wake-up call to anyone in the United States and elsewhere who believes GM (genetically modified) crops are harmless. The discovery that farmland was planted with GM seeds came when the season was already underway, so the harvest was completely lost for this year. What would prompt the Hungarian government to take such a drastic step? Perhaps it is the fact that GM crops simply cannot be contained and inevitably will contaminate the environment with GM DNA. Or it could be that they do not want superweeds, triggered by the use of Roundup herbicide on GM Roundup Ready crops, overtaking their farmland the way they are now doing in the United States. Then again it could be the unknown threats to human health–and the fact that new research shows toxins from GM crops are now appearing in human blood–that made them think twice. GM corn, soybeans, canola and sugar beets have made their way into approximately 80 percent of current U.S. processed grocery store items, now that up to 90 percent of several U.S-grown crops are grown with genetically engineered seed.

Americans have most certainly already been exposed to GM foods–most likely an abundance of them. The fact that in Hungary the government just destroyed crops that were grown with GM seeds and plowed the corn under so the pollen could not spread underlines the fact that GM seeds are banned in Hungary, as they are in Germany and Ireland. These countries have chosen NOT to allow their people to be used as guinea pigs in a massive experiment on the food supply, which is essentially what the introduction of GM crops is. Although Monsanto, the world leader in GM seeds, insists that GM foods are no different from conventionally grown varieties, research indicates otherwise.

Here is just a sampling of the unsavory findings associated with GM foods: GM peas caused lung damage in mice: GM potatoes may cause cancer in rats: GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights and inability to reproduce: male mice fed GM soy had damaged young sperm cells: GM corn caused a wide variety of immune responses in mice commonly associated with diseases such as arthritis, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, osteoporosis and inflammatory bowel disease: and GM foods lead to significant organ disruptions in rats and mice, specifically the kidney, liver, heart and spleen.

The time to take action is now; public disclosure and debase is urgently needed. If you’re eating CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) meats and processed foods that are not 100% USDA organic, you’re eating GMO’s. It’s that simple. The answer is to buy organic and/or look for foods that are "non-GMO certified" by the Non-GMO Project. Go to Non-GMO Shopping Guide.com for shopping resources.

References: Reproductive Toxicology Feb. 18, 2011, Reproductive Biology Marc 19, 2009, Environmental Sciences Europe March 1, 2011, Environmental Health Perspectives 109:851-57, American Journal of Epidemiology 146(12):1025-36, European Journal of Histochemistry 48(4);448-54.

When most Americans think of "Native Americans" they think of feathers, moccasins, dancing around fires and times long past. Most don’t realize that some of the native people here retain a way of understanding themselves in relation to the rest of creation that is powerfully different from the "American" way. This article is meant to be a glimpse into a tiny piece of that different worldview.

Mainstream "Western Civilization," the culture that came here through Europe, lives in opposition to the rest of creation. It speaks of subduing the land, conquering the oceans, and breaking horses. The woods, in the European fairy tales, are scary, dangerous and often deadly places. By contrast, in Indian Country we’re taught that if a child is in the woods and can’t find their way back to their people they are truly at home. Everything they need is right there in the woods, and they should settle down and look around to find what they need.

We’re taught that all the plants, animals, rocks, wind, sun and moon are our elders, our family. We were created last, and they were all here before us. Part of the responsibility these elders accepted when we were created is to teach us. We can learn all we need to know from these elders, if we pay attention.

If you look over our city (Ann Arbor) from a fourth story window or above it looks like a forest. One of our nicknames is "Tree Town." From a fourth story window the trees are clearly the dominant face of this valley. I’m thinking they’re much more than a pretty face.

I’ve lived on the Old Westside in Tree Town for over 20 years. During that time three big trees have come down during storms within a block of my home. One fell just to the west of my home, taking out a chain link fence. Within it’s range were 5 houses, several cars, electrical and phone wires and the lives of about 12 people. That tree fell in the only place it could to avoid damage to all of that.

Another fell on the opposite corner of my block. It fell across a yard and into a driveway, scratching some of the paint on the car belonging to the owner of the lot in which it grew. Within its range were three houses, a church, 4-5 cars, two sets of electrical and phone wires, an electrical transformer, fire hydrant, school crossing and the lives of at least 4 people. It too fell in the only place it could to avoid major damage.

The third fell onto the porch of a lovely home, requiring repair of the porch roof and railing. It missed the major part of that house, three more historic houses, a very nice garage, 9 or 10 cars, electric and phone wires and 5 people. This beautiful old tree fell in the one place where it could cause the least damage.

Last week a friend told me about some damage his house sustained in the storm that recently passed through here. Before the storm his house needed some major and expensive repairs. One wall of the foundation needed replacement, and it needed new plumbing and wiring. The septic field needed replacement and he’d been quoted a price of $30,000 for that work alone. He was carrying a sizable mortgage on the house and had no idea how he could ever afford to take proper care of the house and stay financially solvent. He was trying to figure something out but not coming up with any good answers.

During last weekend’s storm two huge old trees fell on the house, knocking it 6 inches off the foundation and caving in the roof. It looks like his insurance will cover the loss and a neighbor offered to buy the house "as is" for the lot. The trees fixed his problem.

My last story is about the maple that grows between my home and my neighbor’s home to the south. My neighbor’s livelihood is gardening. He grows and sells rare and valuable plants and is known across North America for his beautiful, high quality bulbs. My tree provides a fair amount of shade to some of his prime growing area and he’s let it be known that he doesn’t always appreciate that shade. Last summer he stopped me when I was outside and asked if there was something wrong with the maple. It had been dropping branches for a couple of years and looked very thin from his perspective. I hadn’t noticed a problem. When I stepped back and surveyed the tree I noticed that on his side of the line the tree branches were significantly less abundant than on my side. From my side of the line the tree is lush and full. And it shows no sign of being ill. I began to suspect that the maple tree was responding to his need by providing more sun to his yard.

As I consider these events I remember hearing people talk about all of them. Except for my friend with the ruined house, homeowners complained about having to repair fences, clean up the mess, paint the car and fix the porch. They were upset at the inconvenience the trees had caused them. People didn’t seem to really notice how lightly they’d gotten off. Their attention was on the disturbance to their idea of how things should be.

From my perspective it looks like the trees are being kind to us even though we are pretty crabby and ungrateful. Who knows what generosity and help we might find it we entertain the possibility that the natural world is on our side.

In recent months we’ve been hearing a lot about safety issues with body care products. We’ve been told to avoid products with ethylene oxide which generates 1.4 dioxane during use. We’ve heard that parabens including methylparaben and polyparaben have been discovered in breast cancer tumors. We’ve been told to avoid any ingredients that end in "eth" (like myreth, oleth, etc.) as well as PEG’s, polyethylene, polyethylene glycol and sulfates. We’ve been hearing about how widely respected body care manufacturers are labeling their products as "organic" when only a small fraction of the ingredients of a product are actually certified "organic."

This is important, because science is also showing us that our skin is not nearly as impermeable as it was once thought to be. Our skin is more like a semi-porous membrane, taking into our bodies a great deal of the products we apply to our skin.

All this has led me to change my skin care practices. I’ve been slowly changing over to skin care that is less damaging to the environment and, more importantly for me, healthier in general. It also turns out that the way I’m treating my skin now works better! I’ve gone from buying body care products from companies that I trusted, to carefully reading the ingredient labels on everything I put on my skin, in my mouth and on my hair, to using very few skin and body care products and instead using stuff on my skin that I might also eat. My basket of personal care products now mostly consists of bottles of oils and soaps that are also in my kitchen!

As many of you know this path of change started with my hair. "Nottawasiipi and Retro Tech" describes my concern for our river and my personal quest to damage it less. I’m still using the Retro Tech approach and the results are still great. My success with my hair encouraged me to do more thinking "outside the box." Maybe that should be "outside the bottle" or "outside the tube."

My second adventure was with my teeth. I was frustrated while shopping at the health food store when I couldn’t find a toothpaste that didn’t contain some ingredient I was trying to avoid. A friend told me about a website that sold tooth soap and offered to let me try some of hers. The idea was pretty disgusting at first, because I still remember having my mouth washed out with the stuff at the age of 4. No, I won’t tell you what came out of my mouth before the soap went in. Just know that my mom thought it was bad enough to require drastic measures.

I went to the website and looked at the tooth soap ingredients, just out of curiosity. I read a whole lot of positive testimonials on the site too. Nobody mentioned terrible taste, so that gave me some courage. The ingredients in the tooth soap were all things I had on hand, so I decided to mix up a small amount and try it. I used a 1 oz. glass dropper bottle, put in about 1/8th of the bottle volume as unscented pure castile liquid soap, filled it up with water and added three drops of a high quality orange essential oil. Then I put three drops on my toothbrush, braced myself and tried it.

It wasn’t bad. It didn’t taste at all like my experience as a 4 year old. It felt refreshing and my teeth and mouth felt clean afterward. So I used it again. And again. One worry I had in trying this approach to dental hygiene was the sensitivity of my teeth. I’ve been using a toothpaste for sensitive teeth for over 10 years as a way to reduce this painful condition and I expected the sensitivity to get worse without the special toothpaste. Actually, the results were just the opposite. My teeth have grown less sensitive over the months I’ve been using my own dentifrice! A dear friend who was trained as a dental hygienist explained that the concoction I’m using actually promotes a healthy mouth environment that allows teeth to heal as they naturally can. She said that with the right (real) foods and this good tooth care regimen I can expect my teeth to get healthier. Amazing!

My third adventure with body care products was with my skin toner. I like to use something to balance my skin’s pH before I apply moisturizer and I didn’t like the ingredients in most of the skin toners I found. The best ones had good stuff like green tea and witch hazel in them, so I decided to experiment at home. I brewed up a batch of nice strong green tea, then added witch hazel one drop at a time until the pH (according to the test strips I had) was 5.5 like the pH advertised on the commercially produced toners. I put that into a spray bottle and tried it. It was great! I now mix it up one cup at a time, keep it handy in a little spray bottle and store the rest in the ‘fridge. I toss it out and make a new batch if it starts to look cloudy. We’ve all heard about how good green tea is for us, and now I get it through my skin.

My most wonderful adventure in healthy body care started with a tip from Sophia Loren. She obviously knows a few things about beauty, so I take her advice seriously. I read in a magazine that her best beauty tip is to turn her shower into a hot oil treatment for her skin. Yes! She said that before she steps into the shower she coats her entire body (except for the few places that actually need soap) with organic olive oil and gets the water comfortably hot. Then she stands under the spray and lets her skin warm and the olive oil soak in. She washes only the places that need it with soap. I tried that the day after I read about it and it is wonderful! I used that method all last winter and my skin never got the winter "itchies" or flakes of dry skin. I didn’t need any other body moisturizer and my skin feels wonderful. I now often use virgin organic coconut oil instead of the olive oil since coconut oil is particularly good for me. Coconut oil has antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial properties so it can be helpful for a variety of skin problems as well as provide lush moisturizing.

Last summer I took this a little further but not by conscious choice. I was preparing to spend 3 weeks at our family camp in the wilderness, an experience I treasure with all my heart. Getting there involves a day of car travel and a day of boat travel. I stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast after the car trip and then re-packed my things as I prepared to leave my car behind on the mainland. Somehow my travel case of skin care stuff didn’t make it into my pack for the journey across the water. I discovered this as I was boarding the second boat for the last leg of my journey and my face cream, etc. was a 3 hour boat ride away! I realized I’d need to make do with what I could figure out for substitutes. A swift and gracious helper ran to the little general store in the harbor and picked up a toothbrush for me as we loaded gear on the boat. I knew it was likely that there was a bar of castile soap in camp, which I figured I could use as shampoo, soap and "toothpaste" since my adventure with tooth soap had been so successful. When I got to camp I poured a bit of olive oil from our camp kitchen into a little jar to use as a moisturizer. For those three weeks I shampooed with that bar of soap and the soft lake water, brushed my teeth with a tiny bit of the bar applied to my toothbrush and used the olive oil on my skin morning and night. I also applied a minute amount of olive oil to my hands and rubbed it into the ends of my hair if they felt dry.

I’m sure that the fresh air, good water, physical activity and wonderful experiences I had in that place helped too, but when I came back to the city several people said "You look wonderful!" My skin and hair felt great and all was very well. At first I thought of it as good luck despite my lack of the usual skin cream. Then I realized that it could very well be good skin because of the new/old way I had been caring for it. Even the Finnish woman I consult for skin care, who also knows a few things about beauty, said my skin was in great shape and acknowledged that olive oil is a very good moisturizer. Since then I mostly use olive oil on my skin. If it feels too oily I’ll pat my face with a towel or bandanna to remove the excess oil before going out, but it usually sinks in quickly, just leaving a nice glow. Now it’s winter and my skin is still happy!

My goal is to nourish my body well so that I will continue to enjoy life for a long time to come. It turns out that I can actually nourish my skin, the largest organ of the body, by applying good healthy real food oils to it. In the years I have been eating those fats and oils I’ve watched my skin health constantly improve. Now I’m watching that improvement continue as I use those good things on the outside. I no longer worry about reading the labels on my skin care products and trying to remember all the stuff I want to avoid. I just point my shopping cart to the cooking oil section, keep a supply of unscented liquid castile soap around and make sure I have green tea and witch hazel on hand. It’s much easier and it costs a lot less.

I’ve heard that the best beauty asset anyone can have is a smile. The good ways I’ve found to nourish my skin, teeth and hair with healthy, real oils and soaps help with that part of my beauty routine too.

A recent article in one of our local periodicals brought me up short. It was a lovely piece about a local woman and her devoted volunteer work to restore a precious Native prairie in this area. In discussing the history of this prairie the author mentioned how the federal government bought the land from the Potawatomi. Now I know that the truth of how that land transfer came down is not taught in our schools, so I can excuse the author for simply passing on his understanding. But it reminded me just how deep the misconceptions run, and it did give me pause.

Aside from the fact that the land transfer happened under threat from the U. S. Army using tactics no realtor would engage in, the idea that the Potawatomi could sell the land is one only the invading consciousness would buy. For clarity’s sake, the "Potawatomi" call themselves the Bodawadomi and are part of the larger Anishinaabe nation. In times past the majority of people in this area were Anishinaabe, mostly Bodawadomi, Odawa and Ojibwe (also called Chippewa). A primary understanding among traditional Anishinaabeg is that the earth and the beings who move around on the surface are inseparable, both from the earth herself and from each other. We are really all very closely related.

If you think about it, the truth of this way of understanding becomes self evident. When we are eating food grown and harvested locally (which is how it was always done in times past), we are literally consuming the nutrients that Earth in this location has put into the plants and animals. We are drinking the groundwater, river water or both that flow through this place. We place our wastes into the ground (at least in times past) and the nutrients in those wastes go back into the Circle of Life. We are not separate from the Circle of Life in this place, but part of it. I’ve been told that the reason there is no word in the Anishinaabe language for "nature" is because humans and nature are inseperable. Our bodies are constructed from the nutrients of the soil, water and air of Earth, and the more our consumption is local, the more we truly are this place.

I’ve heard that Native people couldn’t imagine selling the land because it would be like selling their mother. I think it’s more accurate to say that selling the land would be like selling a crucial part of your own body, like your liver or your heart. Either way, the idea that the land could be bought and sold is one the invading culture brought with them. The Anishinaabeg here moved because they wanted their children to continue to live, even if it meant learning how to live in a different place. It was made clear to them that if they did not move they would not live. A land transfer under threat of death can hardly be called a sale, even if money and/or goods changed hands.

I have learned to pray in the ancient Anishinaabe way. In the way I have been taught, we sing to the beings in each of the four directions. Next we bend down and sing into our true Mother. We are told this direction is not down, but IN. We then reach up and sing toward all of Creation including the sky and stars. We are told this direction is not up, but OUT. The assumption behind these practices is that we ARE the land, and that we are inseparable from our mother Earth.

Perhaps the effect of the food grown on this continent, the water from this place and the air that flows across this land is making a difference. I sometimes think that these influences are why so many American people are drawn to understand more about the people who lived here before the conquest. There is a curiosity about Native ways and Native perspectives evident among many Americans. It is difficult for these curious people to find good teachers among the Native people, and even more difficult for them to be able to discern the good teachers from the not so good. There are cultural norms evident in people who are walking their talk and following the traditional ways that people from outside that culture have trouble spotting. And there are powerful reasons for Native people to be cautious in their dealings with people from the conquering culture.

Despite these difficulties some evidence of the influence of this continent on the people who live here is apparent. If you ask people from the rest of the developed world to name their most sacred places you’ll hear answers like "Notre Dame Cathedral," "The Taj Mahal," "Westminister Abby," and "the Vatican." If you ask the same question of Americans you hear answers like "the Grand Canyon," "the Everglades," "the Redwood Forest," and "Glacier National Park." We ARE the land and some of us are waking up to that fact.

I read a lot in the health care literature about the need to standardize herbal remedies. This means making sure that each capsule of herbal medicine contains a standard amount of some constituent of the plant. For instance, St. Johnswort capsules are often standardized to deliver a specific dose of hypericin, one of the components of the plant’s medicine that we know to be active. Although it makes some sense on the surface, there are some problems with this approach.

First, we only have a rudimentary understanding of the symphony of chemicals that are bioactive within our bodies from even the most well understood plant medicines. We may be able to determine that, for instance, motherwort has 5 or 6 chemical compound that are active. There are many many more that we have no understanding of. We do know that the chemical constituents of plant medicines work together to create healing in our bodies. So if we’re standardizing herbal capsules to one chemical in a very poorly understood mix we don’t even know if we’re paying attention to the most important elements.

Second, we use plant medicines to heal a wide variety of health problems. For instance, motherwort can be used for general anxiety, digestive problems, and irregular heartbeats among other disorders. We don’t know if one of the chemical compounds in motherwort is more important than another in dealing with one of these difficulties in particular, or if they all need to be in a certain balance to receive a certain benefit, so standardizing an herbal remedy to one of the compounds is sort of like shooting in the dark.

Third, we end up using plant medicines prepared by others. Sometimes those others have different ways of understanding plants and the healing they can bring. Most of the time these plant medicines are gathered and prepared with profit in mind which can affect how things are done. While many of the manufacturers of herbal medicines are honorable and conscientious, we do have to trust them to do what they say they are doing and to do a good job of it.

Fourth, there is a gap between us and the plants we are using. When we use herbal medicinals that we purchase we have a direct relationship with the store we purchase them from who has a direct relationship with the manufacturer who has a direct relationship with the people who gather and/or grow the plants who have a direct relationship with the plants. Our personal connection with the plants we use under these circumstances is not close.

I think a more reasonable approach is to go local with plant medicines. We know that the chemical components of plant medicines vary with the seasons, from year to year, and from location to location. The chemical components of our bodies also vary according to these same influences. It makes sense that if we are using the plants from around us they will be growing and changing according to the same factors that are affecting us. They are more likely to carry the factors that we need at that time and place. They are more likely to be able to work in in synchrony with our bodies, minds and spirits and be uniquely suited to our particular needs. Using the plants around us is a way to tap more deeply into the harmony of the natural world that is always a part of us.

In addition, if we are using the plants around us for healing we know all the details about how they are growing, how they are gathered and how they are prepared. We don’t have to wonder if someone gathered them from a field next to a highway or toxic dump. We know they are healthy plants if we gather them ourselves. We know they are fresh, and we know how they were handled after they were gathered. We don’t have to be concerned if the correct plant was used or if something other than the plant was added to the medicine we’re using. We know everything that went into the remedy we take or give to those we love.

We have a long tradition of using plants growing around us as medicines. Before the Industrial Revolution cookbooks usually contained recipes for commonly used medicines. Every household prepared what they needed to maintain health and happiness from what grew around them. Two hundred years ago before the settlers arrived in this area it was the responsibility of mostly the mothers and grandmothers to monitor the members of their family and notice if things started to go out of balance. If someone seemed a little "off" a tea or a salve would be prepared to restore harmony before anything more serious could develop. Or maybe a little bit of a certain plant would be added to the family’s dinner to help everyone. This kind of attention is a natural part of family life, but many of us no longer know what to do about the things we notice.

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Carey Ryan, was telling me about a new garden that was being planned by some of her friends. These people were preparing for a garden of herbs and medicinal plants. They had training in Chinese herbal medicine and the Western Herbal tradition (mostly European plants), so naturally they were planning a garden with these medicinal plants. I began a little rant about how we have a perfectly wonderful pharmacopeia of Native medicinal plants that no one really pays attention to. We go to great trouble to import plants from the Far East and Africa and call our Native medicinals "weeds." Then dear Carey, an acupuncturist trained in Chinese Medicine, asked me to teach her something about our Native plants.

We arranged for her to come to my garden. I have encouraged Native plants to grow here for the last 20 years and now have over 50 medicinal and edible plants growing on my little city lot. She brought some friends and we spent the afternoon visiting with some of the plants here and sharing information. Some of the plants in my garden are even plants that she studied in her Chinese Medicine training. She had only studied them from books and dried specimens, so seeing the living, growing and flowering beings was a new experience for her. At the end of the afternoon we made a tincture of Motherwort so everyone could see how easy it is to prepare these kinds of medicines. The people here that afternoon learned about not only some medicinal uses for the plants, but also about the ease of using the ones growing nearby. They also learned something about having a direct relationship with plants and about the plants’ generosity.

More about that later.

I’m preparing to go North and spend some weeks at home, visiting with Elders, making medicinals, learning more about the green ones and helping others connect with the natural world in old ways. I will deeply appreciate these weeks away from cell phones, pavement, "news" and advertising. Pandora, here I come. And I don’t need space travel or an Avatar body.

Many years ago when the $3 billion Human Genome Project was begun it was promoted as a key to healing the ubiquitous chronic diseases that plague the people of industrialized societies. It was thought at the time that understanding the genetic code of our species would allow us to develop more perfect "magic bullets" to rid us of these troublesome chronic disorders. At this point we see that promise as unrealized. The Human Genome Project has given us lots of useful information, but it has not provided the key to solving diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc.

In my opinion, the most useful knowledge obtained through this project is the growing understanding that we have an epigenome. It turns out that we have many genes that control the processes involved in the chronic disorders. Some of these genes turn up the processes and some of these genes turn down and/or stop the processes that create diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. The epigenome controls which of these genes are activated. And the epigenome is controlled to a large extent by our behavior and choices. In other words, what we do, how we feel and what we think determines the genetic activity that drives our bodies’ chemical processes. Essentially this means that we exert far more control over how our bodies work than we previously realized.

Up to this point most Americans didn’t really think they could do anything about what their genes did. "It’s genetic" meant there was nothing that could be done to influence the situation. Now we are realizing that we can have a lot of influence about which of our genes are turned on, or expressed. And it turns out that dietary fats are a great example of this.

It’s been known for quite some time that certain fats enhance inflammation, one of the things most Americans have too much of these days. Many people are not aware of it, but levels of inflammation in the body, as measured by C-reactive protein, correlate much more accurately with heart attacks than do cholesterol levels. In fact over 60% of people who are experiencing an initial heart attack have perfectly normal or even low levels of blood cholesterol. But they very consistently have elevated levels of C-reactive protein. Omega-6 fats, largely from processed and refined vegetable oils, promote inflammation and our "modern American" diets are full of these oils. Omega-3 and Omega-9 fats work to counter inflammation and should be in about a 1:1 ratio with Omega-3′s. In many processed foods (like frozen dinners, packaged foods, fast food, chips, snack foods, etc.) that ratio is more like 20:1, with the "20" being Omega-6′s. It’s no wonder many of our chronic disorders have inflammation either at the root of the problem or as a major component. We are actually turning on the genes we carry for type II diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease by grabbing a quick bite at the drive through and by snatching that bag of chips to tide us over until dinner.

It turns out that the food that is full of Omega-3′s and that dials down our inflammation is the stuff that our Great-Great-Grandmothers cooked 100 years ago. Cookbooks from that time are full of recipes using lots of butter and cream, lard and beef tallow. And heart specialists in that era could go through their entire professional career and never see someone with a heart attack. Now we are moving a little in that direction with fish oil supplements, but we’re trying to balance an entire diet of pro-inflammatory fats with a few supplements. Why not just eat the food that dials down inflammation instead?

That food is the stuff that comes from the farmers directly to us without going through a factory first, just like with our ancestors. Whole milk, butter, cream (not ultra-pasturized), meat from animals who have lived outside and eaten grass, not who were raised on grains and confined indoors. Chickens and eggs from birds who get to peck the ground and find the insects that make the egg yolks dark orange. Wild fish who swam around and ate what they chose.

Science is giving us more and more information about how our bodies are exquisitely tuned into the natural world around us. We’re finding out that the sounds of nature are deeply healing to our nervous systems. We’re discovering that the vegetables and fruits that grow near us carry a lot more of the specific nutrients we need than the food grown thousands of miles away. We exist in a network of life that supports us and nourishes us if we let it. We can tune into the support and nourishment of this network with our forks!

This is real food. This is what our bodies are designed to eat and this is what nourishes us toward true health and happiness. This is the food that lets our epigenome enhance our experience of being alive. And it tastes wonderful, because our taste buds are designed to appreciate it. It turns out our bodies are a lot smarter than our brains on this one.

Resources and works cited:

• Primal Body-Primal Mind by Nora T. Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT
• Weston A. Price Foundation
• New Trends Publishing
• DVD, "Nourishing Traditional Food"
• DVD, "The Oiling of America"

One of my great pleasures in town is walk/running around the track at the "Y." As I move around the track I can look out the windows and see several different views of this beautiful valley we share. In winter the trees look like soft gray clouds with green spikes (the pines) poking through. In summer the soft cloud is lushly green and undulates before me with the contours of the valley. It’s only the nearest views that reveal evidence of our habitation. Buildings, wires and vehicles don’t show up when you look just a little into the distance.

I can’t see it from the "Y" but I know our river is there. It’s called the Huron River now, but a Bodawodomie (Pottawatami) friend told me it was called "Nottawasiipi" about 180 years ago. That means "Snake River" in Ahishinaabemowin, the language of the people who were in the majority here at that time. In those days it was a busy thoroughfare. The people here got around mostly by canoe and on foot, so Nottawasiipi was not only a source of water and food, but a means of getting from one place to another. I understand it was an important part of the journey between the straits now known as Detroit and the area now known as Chicago.

Nottawa can be translated into English as "snake." The part of this name that means "river" is "siipi." You might recognize this as part of the name for another famous river. "Michi," in Ahishinaabemowin, means "really big," so "Michisiipi" means "really big river." It isn’t far from that to "Mississippi." And it truly is a really big river.

In Ahishinaabemowin the river, "siipi," shows up in interesting places. It’s part of the verb "to wash something," giziibiginan, and part of the verb "to take a bath," giziibiigazhe. Even for us now the truth of that is evident. Our city water comes in part from Nottawasiipi/the Huron River, and although it flows through pipes underground to reach our sinks and showers, it is still our river.

The part of our water that does not come directly from Nottawasiipi is still connected to it. As the test wells monitoring the Gellman/Pall debacle are showing us, the water under the ground here flows to the river. The interconnectedness of the water here is much larger and more complicated than we knew.

Nottawasiipi is a big part of our connections with all that lives in this valley with us. As it flows through our bodies, supporting our living chemistry, it also flows through the squirrels, robins, dandelions and tomatoes, supporting the dance of life within all. We humans are waking up to the fact that what we do with and to the water of our river makes a big difference to ourselves and to all life around us. We’re starting to landscape and grow food without chemical fertilizers. We’re taking phosphorous out of our washing machines and dishwashers. We’re using rain barrels and building rain gardens to help Nottawasiipi and ourselves. We’re learning how to live lighter here, often using knowledge and technology from earlier times.

A little over a year ago I was looking at the plastic shampoo bottle in my hand. I thought of the rivers that received the chemical waste from its manufacture, of the acidification of the water that was the result of that bottle’s transport to me and wondered about what our river would receive from the bottle after it left my hands. Sure, I would recycle it, but did I really need to have it in the first place? And look at all the ingredients! What about the rivers that contributed to the manufacture of the chemicals in that bottle and received the waste from that manufacture? And what about the effects of all those chemicals on our river as they washed down my drain after their brief encounter with my hair? There wouldn’t be much impact from my single shampoo, but there were hundreds of thousands of heads being shampooed in our valley just that morning.

I remembered the first bottle (glass) of shampoo that came into our home when I was a girl. It was called White Rain. It only had two or three ingredients in those days. And what did we do before that? I was sure my mother had washed my hair before that shampoo showed up.

I remembered. It was a white bar soap, Ivory soap. My mom worked it into a nice lather in her hands, then rubbed it thoroughly through my hair, down my neck and all over me as I stood in the basement laundry tub. After a good rinse my hair sometimes got a special rinse with vinegar and water to make it easier for Mom to comb and set into pin curls. As I remember and my earliest photos show, it seemed to work pretty well.

Last spring I decided to try it again. A good friend had given me some home made glycerin soap, shaped like the moon and a star. That soap looked like a good subject for my experiment. I put about 1/2 cup of vinegar in a quart jar and filled it up with warm water, as I remember Mom doing. Then I stepped into the shower and the adventure began. The soap lather was smooth and lush, much nicer than the lather I remember from that white bar in Mom’s hands. After all the sudzing and washing and rinsing I dipped the ends of my hair in the vinegar water, then slowly and thoroughly poured it through my hair. Just to be sure I didn’t smell like vinegar all day, I rinsed my hair again.

I dried my hair as usual, and noticed how soft it felt and how easy it was to manage. It was shiny and smooth. My hair falls almost to my waist and it felt good all the way to the ends. After three shampoos with the moon and star my hair was smooth and lustrous like the hair of the shampoo models in the slick magazines. I’ve never gone back. When the moon and star soaps became too small to use I bought a bar of lemon glycerin soap. The label said it was hypo-allergenic, biodegradable and cruelty-free. That sounded good. It worked just as well as the moon and star. I have been shampoo bottle free for almost a year now and my hair has never looked or behaved better.

I do not yet have a totally plastic free shampoo experience. I still use a plastic bottle when I go to the "Y." I put the vinegar in the bottom and carry it with me to the shower, filling it up with warm water from the river that flows through the pipes at the "Y." At home I use a lovely glass carafe for vinegar and water in the shower. And I do carry the wet soap home in a plastic soap dish. But these plastic items don’t go into the landfill after one use. In fact, I’ll probably be able to use each one for years.

The people in this valley have always lived here in relationship with Nottawasiipi. Many of us now are realizing this river’s importance to our personal well being. We are also recognizing that our river’s well being is directly related to what we as individuals do in our own lives. We are tuning in to stonefly counts and phosphorus levels the way we might tune in to the thermometer reading of an ill loved one. I’m grateful to have found one more way that I can live responsibly and well in this valley.

I am a holistic nurse, combining a solid background in western health care with a wide variety of bodymind techniques, nutrition and herbal medicines. I have been practicing holistic health care since 1976. I work with people of all ages and backgrounds who come to me with many different problems and diagnoses. My clients and I are usually able to determine if they can be helped by my work within three visits or less.

My experiences from over three decades of work in the health care field have shown me that our bodies are wise and intelligent beyond our wildest dreams. I have witnessed the miracles that occur when we listen to the wisdom of our own bodies and spirits and allow that wisdom to guide our healing work. I work with individuals to facilitate their personal understanding of their own body’s wisdom and to develop a plan for healing that combines the information from within with realistic self care measures that allow healing to take place. I then coach people through the transformations that healing brings.

My work is not a replacement for medical care. I work in conjunction with physicians of all specialties, nurse practitioners, dentists, physician assistants, physical therapists, chiropractors and other bodywork practitioners. I have a wide network of referral sources both in the Ann Arbor area and throughout the United States. By employing the techniques they learn with me, people often find that their need for medical care decreases.

I have helped people to successfully overcome the following problems:

• headaches of all kinds
• neck and back pain
• teeth clenching or grinding/bruxism
• chronic and acute sinus pain and infections
• hip pain
• head injury
• birth trauma
• thumb sucking
• infant feeding problems
• Temporal Mandibular Joint Pain or Dysfunction (TMJ or TMD)
• tinnitus
• vertigo/dizziness
• anxiety and tensions
• arthritis and joint stiffness
• knee and ankle pain
• shoulder pain
• numbness and tingling of hands and feet
• Bell’s Palsy
• Reynaud’s disease
• the effects of trauma of all kinds including surgery
• allergies
• asthma
• IBS/irritable bowel syndrome
• chronic constipation and diarrhea