My Olive Oil Fridge Test...Who Passed?

After reading multiple posts this summer about the Extra Virgin Olive Oil controversy, I decided to investigate my olive oils for authenticity.  Of course, we have no foolproof way to do so (I don't have access to a mass spectrometer, LOL), and there is no home test that can guarantee your bottle of EVOO is in fact pure, unadulterated olive oil.  But I felt that the refrigeration test was the best option.  If your olive oil crystallizes/solidifies it isn't a guarantee that no other oils are present, but if your olive oil does not at all crystallize, it tells you that there is no decent olive oil in that bottle.


I apologize for my brevity, but life is just beginning to become normal again after a miscarriage, so I am not my usual verbose self.  I'll just give you a quick rundown of my findings.  

[Background blurb:  Years ago, when we lived near Salt Lake City, we shopped at a boutique gourmet shop that carried high quality food imports and heirloom produce.  If you're ever in the city, check out Liberty Heights Fresh...it's worth the trip!  We used to purchase French, Italian, Spanish and Greek EVOOs there and they were excellent.  The shop owner often traveled to his producers and maintained relationships with many of them.  I believe he and they are to be trusted.  I know many articles say it is impossible for consumers to discern by taste whether their EVOO is adulterated, but I would disagree.  If you spend years eating nothing but the best authentic EVOO, you do develop a palette for it.  Since leaving the SLC area, and living in and leaving the SoCal area, we have purchased a wide variety of EVOOs from gourmet shops, online stores, Trader Joe's and health food stores.  I have been able to discern flavor differences that made me suspect the less expensive oils, as I will mention below.]

OK.  I only have a couple snapshots to demonstrate my experiment; I apologize.  I took samples from a few bottles of EVOO I had on the shelf and I refrigerated each of them for 24 hours.  The following are my results:

12 hours.  L: Bionaturae, R: Napa Valley, Top: Bariani

My sample of organic Spanish EVOO from Trader Joe's did NOT solidify at all, not even after 48 hours.  I gave up and forgot to take a photo.  I have purchased various TJ's oils over the years and have noticed the flavor to be bland.  I only had the Spanish bottle left in my pantry, so tested it.  I'm ruling it a fake and no longer buying it (and likely won't buy TJ's EVOOs at all.  Sometimes you do get what you pay for).

24 hours.  L: Napa Valley, R: Bionaturae, Top: Bariani

My samples of Napa Valley Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Italian blend) and Bariani Californian EVOO (I purchase at Live Superfoods) turned semi-solid within 12 hours.  My sample of Bionaturae Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Italian blend) was beginning to crystallize after 12 hours, but did not actually become semi-solid until spending 24 hours in the fridge.  

Of all the oils, the Bariani tasted the most authentic to me, with a strong peppery finish.  The Bionaturae oil's website describes the company's hand harvesting and same-day pressing process, and the information presented is appealing.  I cannot be assured completely that my three "winners" are indeed nothing but pure, uncut EVOO, but I'm hopeful that they are.  

Kirkland organic EVOO

The biggest disappointment was my Kirkland (Costco brand) organic EVOO.  This oil was one of many tested by UC Davis in July 2010; at that time it was determined to be pure.  I have bought this oil for a couple years to use in my medicinal herbal salves.  When I refrigerated the bottle for a week, there was hardly any crystallization at all, just slight cloudiness.  When I studied the refrigerated herbal oils I had prepared with Kirkland oil, I found that last year's oil was nearly solidified but my recent batches (with oil purchased this spring) were much more liquid.  If the refrigeration test can tell us anything about EVOO authenticity, I suspect a degradation of Kirkland EVOO quality since the 2010 testing.  Again, my experiment is not conclusive either way, but I am looking for some guideline to use in my future EVOO purchases.

Last year's Kirkland EVOO

This spring's Kirkland EVOO

Keep in mind that when purchasing from large vendors and companies that buy from middle men, EVOO qualities will change from season to season, even batch to batch.  Companies like Costco, who buy in vast quantities, are purchasing oils from multiple orchard sources.  Companies like Trader Joe's do the same...purchase vast quantities of oils from multiple suppliers and then repackage with their label.  So genuine EVOO quality could be hit and miss in these cases; it certainly won't be predictable and static.  Purchasing from smaller companies with traceable supply sources, or directly from an orchard or a vendor who works with single orchards, is a consumer's best option.

Enjoying Summer's End

I'm taking a break from writing to deal with a family issue; I wish you all well during summer's end and I look forward to posting again soon.  Until next time, I hope you enjoy these photos of our recent trip to the Washington coast.  Cheers!  

USDA Organic...The Label Doesn't Guarantee Clean Food

The term organic means something specific to consumers...purity, safety, absence of chemicals, pesticides, frankenfoods, adulteration.  But is your supermarket Organic food as clean as you'd like?  [In the following article, Organic with a capital "O" represents the corporate, government approved and regulated standard.]

In truth, the USDA Organic label is not a pure standard ensuring that consumers are purchasing and eating Real Clean Food.  The moment that government regulators became involved in the world of organic food production, the standards became adulterated, the lines blurred.  Years ago, clean food farmers warned their peers to avoid signing a deal with the USDA, but the warning was unheeded and (official) Organic food quality has been and will continue to be subject to regulation whims and corporate adulteration.


Rather than protecting consumers from conventionally grown food's harm, the USDA Organic standards provide lawfully tainted foods.  As Mercola reports:

There are currently almost 300 non-organic and synthetic compounds approved for use in organic farming or food production.  ...  In November, 2011, the USDA's National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) held a meeting in Savannah, Georgia. During that meeting, two 12-billion-dollar corporations--Martek Biosciences (a division of the Dutch biotechnology giant DSM), and WhiteWave (a division of the dairy behemoth Dean Foods)—received approval for synthetic, genetically mutated DHA and ARA oils derived from algae and soil fungus, which are then grown in a medium of genetically engineered corn products and organics.

The allowed chemicals and substances in Organic production include chlorine (a potent toxin), chlorine dioxide (a dangerous endocrine disruptor and carcinogen), tetracycline and streptomycin (antibiotics), processed carrageenan (an inflammatory and potentially carcinogenic "stabilizer" derived from seaweed), and other questionable substances.  Additionally, corporations have been found sneaking synthetic preservatives into their Organic offerings.

We should be concerned about the USDA Organic label and its integrity, considering that the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, caved to Monsanto and approved GMO alfalfa and defends pink slime, and that the National Organics Standards Board is highly influenced by big business.  (Vilsack went so far as to say that the USDA wouldn't approve pink slime if it weren't safe.  Oh, I feel so much better now.  Another government agency known for cronyism says everything it approves is all A.O.K.  Whew!  We can all sleep better knowing the USDA is planning our meals for us.)  The NOSB has been appointing voting representatives from big food industry players, like General Mills, since the mid-1990s.  This should not sit well with organic consumers, and it doesn't sit well with certain organic producers, including Eden Foods' president, Michael Potter:

Chairman and President of Eden Foods, Inc., Michael Potter ... has witnessed, first-hand, the deteriorating standards of the NOSB. A deterioration so disturbing that despite the millions of dollars he stands to pocket by selling Eden Foods to one of the many large corporations who have offered to buy it, Mr. Potter stands strong in his refusal to compromise the values of a company he worked hard to build. In fact, he’s even trending carefully with regards to his children, making sure they understand values of Eden Foods. Each one of his four children “must earn any control of the family company” according to the New York Times.

As the NYTimes article reveals, even voters from Certified Organic companies make sell-out moves while acting on the NOSB:

During her tenure, Ms. Fulwider, Organic Valley’s animal-husbandry specialist, has voted almost in lock step with its corporate members, even though her vote may be supporting something Organic Valley does not allow its own members to do.  ...  Ms. Fulwider surprised many observers at a board meeting in May by voting in favor of keeping carrageenan on the organic list. Before that meeting, Organic Valley was saying that it planned to find an alternative to the additive, and there is a long and active list of consumer complaints on its web site about the cooperative’s use of it in things like heavy cream and chocolate milk.  Ms. Fuldwider has also voted to let organic egg producers give their chickens just two square feet of living space, when Cropp requires its own farmers to provide five.

The chart below demonstrates the food industry's corporate ownership of "Organic" brands:

The danger of these strange food bedfellows is already becoming apparent.  In addition to the concerns I mentioned above, organics watchdog group Cornucopia Institute regularly reports on the drawbacks associated with allowing big government and big business to influence organic food production.  For example, as the Institute recently reported, "Corporations Stab Organic Consumers in Back:"

Corporations owning some of the nation's most popular organic brands (Horizon, Silk, Kashi, Cascadian Farms, R.W. Knudsen's, etc.) have joined Monsanto and the biotechnology industry in fighting California citizen initiative, Proposition 37, that will mandate GMO labeling. And if we win in California, companies will then likely be forced to label GMOs nationwide.

In reality, this conundrum was inevitable.  When you allow the government to control and regulate food production (or anything, for that matter), you are asking for trouble.  The government took over, companies betrayed organic ideals, and Organic food offerings are now and will continue to be subject to whatever adulterations the NOSB, USDA and corporations deem appropriate.  Will we see an Organic future including factory farms and GMOs?  Really...what did we expect?  That a partnership with a government regulatory agency and its buddies wouldn't mean swallowing a bucket of compromises?  (Cautionary tale 101:  Beware making deals with the devil.)

The best way to guarantee you are feeding your family clean food, truly organic food, is to purchase food grown from farmers with whom you can build relationships...whose farms you can see...whose methods and practices you can question.  Their food need not be Certified Organic (approved by the infamous USDA) to be truly organic food.  In my experience, most food from local organic producers is cleaner than anything I can purchase in a store.  And the farmers care about their local reputation.  Often, to differentiate themselves from the Certified Organic crowd, farmers will call their offerings "beyond organic."  When they are genuine, the quality of their food exceeds what the USDA allows to pass as Organic.  To avoid the pitfalls of corporate Organics, buy from smaller producers who are accountable to you, their patrons.  

Sometimes we have no choice.  We all still must eat.  In that case, I recommend the supermarket USDA Organic foods over their conventionally produced cousins.  Certified Organic may not be perfect, may not be pure, may not be playing fair, but as far as we know now, it is less toxic than the non-Organic counterparts and is the healthier choice.

Certain problems associated with the "allowable" Organics standards affect processed food offerings.  If you are relying heavily on Organic processed and packaged foods, you should consider learning to prepare your own meals and snacks from scratch with Real Food components.  Blogs abound with recipes and instructions.  A steady diet of processed foods, even Organic, will not properly nourish you or your family.  The further you get from the genuine food article as it appears in nature, the less nutritious it is...and the more likely to be subject to additives, preservatives and ingredients that you cannot understand nor recognize, because they are not Real Food.  Nothing that is produced in a lab is Real Food...not even if the label says "natural."  Real Food grows out of the ground and from the animals that eat what grows out of the ground.  When we support the farmers who believe in and produce Real Food, we are supporting our health and our future well-being.

 
The USDA's Organic Deception

Discover What They're Hiding In Your Organic Food

Why One Organic Brand Is Refusing to Sell Out

Has Organic Been Oversized?

The Truth Behind Certified Organic

National List of Allowed Substances 

Pesticides and Chemicals Allowed in Organic Production

The Cornucopia Institute

Chlorine, Pollution and the Environment

Pandora's Poison:  Chlorine, Health and a New Environmental Strategy

A Lighthearted Tribute to Julia Child

"This is what cooking is all about!"

PBS did a clever remix of Julia to celebrate her 100th birthday.  Bon appetit!

Watch Julia Child Remixed - Keep on Cooking on PBS. See more from PBS Digital Studios.

Products

The following are sites that sell products I use and recommend. Your purchases support my site. Thank you!


                     

EveryWiseWoman Herbal Products

HerbalAide Super Salve is first aid in a tin! Please visit my sister site to learn more, read testimonials and purchase. You may also purchase Super Salve at my hyenacart store.

The salve is handcrafted in small batches using both fresh and dried herbs (this changes seasonally) that I have grown organically, wildcrafted or purchased from organic suppliers like Mountain Rose Herbs, along with organic oils, waxes and butters. This process can create color and slight texture variation in the salves from batch to batch. I do not create a large quantity of stock to keep on hand, as I want your salve to be as fresh as possible. This is why you may see low or delayed inventory at the shop. I ask for your patience as I attempt to streamline my process while never degrading integrity/quality. I also ask for your patience as I attempt to learn how to set up shop and program web sites. (I am a healer, not a salesperson or techie, LOL!)




My Disclaimer:  I do not do business with the FDA.

"The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn’t. What the FDA is doing and what the public thinks it’s doing are as different as night and day."
 -- Former FDA commissioner Herbert Lay

My Raw Butter Comparison: Jersey vs. Guernsey

I have two local sources for grass-fed raw cow's cream.  One friend has a Guernsey cow, the other friends get Jersey milk from a local Real Food farmer.  We don't drink cow's milk, but adore and devour butter (because we're doing GAPS, the gut healing protocol, we only consume our goat milk in the form of naturally fermented yogurt...I love the villi starter from Cultures for Health).  I've been making raw butter with the cream for a while now, but it only occurred to me recently to compare my results with the two creams.  What I found was interesting, so I thought I'd share.


If you read about the differences between the Guernsey and Jersey breeds, you will see that Jersey's are known for their slightly higher butterfat content.  Guernsey milk, however, is higher in beta carotene, evidenced by its brighter golden color.  To my palette, which is fairly sensitive, the milks/creams are nearly indistinguishable.  I have read (see books below) that all unadulterated, grass-fed milks of cows, goats and sheep will taste pretty much the same (sweet and fresh, yum), and at this time, I concur.  Our browse-fed goats' milk tastes just as sweet and creamy as the grass-fed Jersey and Guernsey milks.

[Side trail:  The "goaty" flavor people say they don't like about goat milk products is the result of two things.  First, keeping a buck on the premises near the milking does taints the milk through the pheromone/hormone activity.  Second, goat's milk is naturally homogenized, making it oh-so-creamy, but when kept for more than a couple days, the fat will develop a "goaty" smell/flavor.  So, don't keep bucks, and don't keep your goat milk for more than two days before consuming or turning it into yogurt.  I have never had goaty milk; even after converting the milk into yogurt, it has not developed a goaty fragrance or taste.]

OK, back to butter.  I have done this experiment twice, with very similar results.  Drumroll, please......

I used the same amount of cream: 1/2 gallon.  I only measured the buttermilk from the initial pour off; I didn't weigh any of the "washing" liquid that removed the rest of the buttermilk from the butter.  See photos below for more details.  When I made the Jersey cream into butter, I ended up with more butter and less buttermilk than with the G cream.  The Guernsey cream produced less butter and more buttermilk than did the J cream.  The Guernsey butter is slightly more yellow.  I compared the final weights of the butters in bowls weighing the same and taring my scale.  The final photo is a comparison of the butters to some Kerrygold pasteurized butter.  The color variations are difficult to see in the photos, I apologize.  I can assure you that the Guernsey was a bit more yellow, not a lot, and both Jersey and Guernsey butters out-yellowed the Kerrygold.

Jersey butter and buttermilk

Jersey buttermilk at just over 20 oz.

Guernsey butter and buttermilk

Guernsey buttermilk at just over 24 oz.

Weighing Jersey butter: 14.3 oz.

Weighing Guernsey butter: 9.10 oz.

Color comparison. Top: Jersey, Left: Guernsey, Right: Kerrygold

So, for what it's worth, there's my little raw butter comparison experiment.  Of course, results will vary depending on your cream source and that cow's diet, the time of year, and other factors of which I'm probably ignorant, LOL.  In the end, I love all grass-fed raw butter and am thankful for the cream with which I make it.  I like testing out my own questions, like, "Does Jersey cream really give more butter than other breeds?"  In my analysis, the answer is yes.  Perfect "science?"  Probably not.  Do I care?  No.  Was it fun?  Absolutely!  I was able to question and compare, and we enjoyed eating the test subjects!  Try for yourself if you can.  

For more info on dairy breeds, butter making and homesteading, check out:

        

Laboring Under Delusions: How Fear Facilitates Our Broken Birth Culture

I am glowing this week, as I just discovered I am pregnant with whom we hope will be child number four. I have a history of infertility and miscarriages, along with debilitating nausea and vomiting that lasts the entire gestation, so each pregnancy is met with prayerful anticipation. My births, however, have been wonderful, natural, empowering events...that necessitated commitment, preparation and hard work on my part. And I can promise you, Ladies, home waterbirths are every bit as wonderful as you’ve heard. I’ve had a land birth and I’ve had waterbirths...and you couldn’t pay me to give birth out of the water. They don’t call it the “aqua”dural for nothing! (Check out the myriad advantages of waterbirths for Mom and baby at the Waterbirth International website.)


So, on the heels of my positive pregnancy test, I wanted to resurrect and consolidate some essays I’ve penned previously on my passionate concern for our broken birth culture. I’d like to take some time to share my heartfelt conviction regarding the damage being perpetrated upon women and their babies as a result of our technocratic, fear-based, factory birth system.

We’ve all seen the quintessential cinematic or television portrayal of birth: Surrounded by monitors and equipment in a brightly lit room, a screaming woman lies in a hospital bed, begging for drugs. The room bustles with nurses and an OB or two, the scene is rife with panic. Someone yells, “PUSH!” or “I see a head!” in a voice edged with terror that should be reserved only for a devastating catastrophe like an impending Tsunami wave about to engulf an entire village. What drama! What trauma! What rubbish! But this is the typical version of birth we serve to society. The message is that birth is damaging, dangerous and an event to be feared.

The fear of birth is the beginning of intervention disaster. Our culture (the industrialized world, primarily the United States) teaches women to fear birth. Fear is paralyzing...it is powerful...it is profitable. Fearful parents are more easily led down the lockstep of “standard procedure” interventions. A fearful woman in pain has trouble making wise decisions. So much of birth is a mental exercise. Just like an athlete, you must “get your head in the game.” Attitude has a significant impact on outcomes. An attitude of fear debilitates. An attitude of peace, understanding, acceptance and a sound mind empowers. Fear-based decisions are faulty decisions. When you fear or fight the pain of birth, the laborious activity of birth, you impair your body’s natural ability to work with the baby and the process to achieve a positive outcome. Women who do not fear birth, who have not been indoctrinated to do so, who do not fight or interfere with the process, have much higher likelihoods of positive, natural results. What you believe about your body and your ability to birth has a tremendous impact on your birth outcome. Attitude is one of the most crucial elements to a successful birth.

Our modern birth system is a technocratic system. A technocracy is a society controlled by an elite of technical experts. Much of our society, including the entire medical industry, is technocratic. In the pregnancy/birth realm, the technocratic model defines the female body as broken...a compilation of defective parts that creates a dysfunctional reproductive process necessitating medical and technological intervention. This could not be further from the truth! Our bodies were designed for birth. The female body is not inferior and every human body is a wonderful, incredible organism of holistically integrated members.

“Anybody in obstetrics who shows a human interest in patients is not respected. What is respected is interest in machines.”
— Rick Walters MD, February 1986

We exist within a broken birth culture. We are told we cannot birth on our own. We are told that pregnancy is an illness and birth is dangerous. We are told that we are broken and we believe the lie. We are told that we need to be saved from ourselves when neither evidence nor experience supports that claim. Even women who desire and pursue “natural birth” often operate with ingrained presuppositions fed to us by the industry. The majority of women (and men, too) labor under a (sometimes subconscious) fear of the process, “giving ear to the voices of doctors, tests and technology that assert birth is dangerous and needs highly skilled assistance ‘just in case something goes wrong.’" (quote from Anne Frye, CPM, prominent midwifery educator)  That fear is unnatural...it is something in which our society has been indoctrinated over many decades. The assertion that hospital births are the safe option and that homebirths are risky is simply fallacious. An honest assessment of the evidence-based data refutes that claim. We must stop the hypermedicalization of birth (to borrow a phrase from the great birth liberator Ina May Gaskin).  There is no such thing as a safe drug, nor a risk-free surgery.  Both carry side effects and complications that corrupt our bodies.

“I’ve always had a special place in my heart for those women who choose home birth. The reason for this is that these women trust themselves more than doctors and hospitals.”
— Christiane Northrup MD, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

If you are one of the five percent of women who has a legitimate physiological/anatomical difficulty/malfunction that precludes you from normal birth, that necessitates medicalized birth, you have my genuine sympathies and my respect for battling your impediment and bringing your baby into the world. You are the minority...the rare exception...for whom the protocol of emergency/technological birth measures are prescribed. But for the industry to apply that paradigm to the rest of us...to seek the medicalization and enforced technological protocol for all normal birth...is criminal. Normal birth is NOT a medical event.

OBs who desire to normalize “abdominal” birth have completely lost touch with the reality of the human form and its natural function. There is no such thing as abdominal birth (aka cesarean section) without the risk-bearing tools of the factory birth system. A c-section is not a birth process at all...its “intent” is to be an emergency, last ditch effort. To elevate the c-section to a place of normalization along with natural vaginal birth borders on insanity. A c-section is an invasive surgery, not a birth. A woman is restrained to a table, she (and consequently her baby) is drugged, and her abdomen is sliced open, her internal tissues, musculature and an organ cut into, and her baby forcefully removed. As a genuine lifesaving, RARE procedure, we can accept such a violation. But let us never accept or promote it as an elective, normal birth option. Christiane Northrup, in her book, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, describes OBs that believe the c-section model to be the preferred baby delivery system. These doctors, at best, are deluded. According to their paradigm, it’s nothing short of miraculous that the human race made it to the 20th century.

“We do not see childbirth in many obstetric units now. What we see resembles childbirth as much as artificial insemination resembles sexual intercourse.”
— Ronald Laing, Psychiatrist

The industry seems blind to the fact that women have been populating the earth into the billions for millennia before the medicalization of birth. To claim that birth can only be safe and successful as a result of our modern, technocratic system is both arrogant and ignorant. The United States boasts the most technological birth system in the world, yet suffers one of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the developed world.  In California alone, the maternal death rate tripled between 1996 and 2006.  Nationally, cesarean sections are a significant factor in maternal death.  And rather than doing some serious self-reflection, the ACOG spends its time and resources vilifying homebirth. Even the CNM paradigm has shifted through the years to become aligned with the ACOG version of reality. So many CNMs now are just mini-OBs. Some know very little about botanical and nutritional therapies and do not advocate the complete pursuit of the instinctive, unfettered birth process.  I recently heard a student CNM rail against homebirths, saying she would never support a woman’s desire to birth outside the hospital system. “Babies die at home!” she said. Well, it is rare, yet sadly, it can happen. I grant you, life can be harsh. We despair to see a baby die in any environment. Bad things can happen, sometimes out of our control. But let us not be ignorant of the facts. Babies die in hospital births. Moms die in hospital births. Why does mainstream media neglect to seriously report the plight of maternal deaths as a result of the hospital birth system?

Hospital L&D protocols and procedures create a cascade of interventions that routinely results in harm (from mild to severe) to mothers and babies. The typical crisis outcome is the c-section, which accounts for 33% of births nationally (some states are at 40% and some hospitals are at 50%).  Too often, the hospital instigates the cascade of events and policies (epidurals, pitocin, fetal monitoring, mom in bed, etc.) that leads to birth complications, ends in a risky surgical delivery, and later the OBs thump their chests, claiming to have "saved" you and your baby. Well, it's partly true...they did save you...they saved you from the harm they caused you, significantly adding complications to you and your baby's birth and postpartum recovery. Yet the birth industry "experts" profess that they are providing the best, safest care...that they are protecting you. From what is the ACOG so desirous to protect women and babies? Peaceful, empowering, health-promoting, drug-free vaginal births? The fear-based, “broken body” paradigm causes industry practitioners and protocol makers to see every pregnancy as an illness and every birth as a disaster waiting to happen. They foolishly apply a (profitable) “one-size-fits-all” approach and work to convince all of us that it is sound practice. The industry needs to take a step back and begin to accept and practice what I believe is an essential, needful mantra: “Just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD!”

The birth industry applies the emergency procedure approach necessary for only five percent of women to all pregnant women. They treat all infants at birth like the endangered babies of drug-using, disease-riddled mothers. These presuppositions determine hospital birth policy. When was the last time you knew a pregnant mom who had gonorrhea? Not common. Yet the industry has made it standard treatment to fill ALL newborn’s eyes with chemical gunk to "protect" from that disease. How many moms do you know who are prostitutes or IV drug addicts?  Not too many?  Yet industry policy is to vaccinate ALL newborns for Hepatitis B.  The industry’s policies are not evidence-based necessities. The ACOG-driven policy of punishing midwives...of vilifying, outlawing and delegitimizing homebirth...does not stand on evidence-based science; it can only be compelled by profit and/or a desire for control and conformity. The ACOG stands ready with PR pitbulls and regulatory buddies to attack the moment they perceive (or design stories of) anything going awry in the homebirth realm. But where is that fire in the belly for publicizing and prosecuting those responsible in the hospital system when babies and mothers are harmed...even killed...by their interventions and procedures?!

“Birth matters. It matters because it is the way we all begin our lives outside of our source, our mothers’ bodies. It’s the means through which we enter and feel our first impression of the wider world. For each mother, it is an event that shakes and shapes her to her innermost core. Women’s perceptions about their bodies and their babies’ capabilities will be deeply influenced by the care they receive around the time of birth.”
— Ina May Gaskin, CPM, Birth Matters

The birth industry operates with a factory widget approach. Because of this flawed technocratic paradigm, the OB system sorely lacks good prenatal care. Good prenatal care involves a genuine relationship (including quality and quantity time spent) between the pregnant mother and her chosen support practitioner...it is more than tests and technological monitoring. It is not common for OBs...or even many CNMs, sadly...to educate women about how to be truly healthy during their pregnancy and to prepare for their best possible birth outcome (nutrition, exercise, herbs, lifestyle, etc). Birth industry practitioners don't tell women about the wonderful red raspberry leaf that strengthens, tones, then repairs the uterus, and helps to alleviate postpartum depression. They don't teach women about how to avoid posterior baby positioning that leads to labor complications (even c-sections), and what you can do to rotate a posterior baby before/during birth. They don't teach women about the optimum exercises and practices for birth preparation, nor do they encourage women to move into and explore the best birthing positions during labor/birth. In general, typical OB care includes vast unnecessary (and problematic) technological interventions, viewing all women the same, giving them all the standard protocol...it is the factory approach to childbearing, and it doesn't work. This birth culture disempowers women, keeps them disconnected from their bodies, babies and the birth process...it keeps women steeped in fear and self-doubt...and it perpetuates the lies to the next generations.

“The gap between actual obstetric practices in the Unites States and what scientific evidence indicates obstetric practices should be continues and will be slow to change until there is sufficient pressure—from women, scientists, politicians, and the media—to force more evidence-based practices.”
— Marsden Wagner MD, Born in the USA

Any perspective, finding or practice outside the established accepted industry norm is routinely vilified, slandered, mocked, or suppressed. If you don't walk to their beat, you're out of line. The minute someone questions "conventional wisdom" and it gets big enough to make ripples, the hounds are released. It's so typical and common that it's humorous. Someone comes close to rocking the boat and the PR dogs bark out their mantra..."that cannot be proven," "that is unsafe," "that is not approved." And when the establishment gets caught with dirty hands, caught in deceptions, caught altering results, caught with egg on their faces, the response is first silence, then more mud-slinging at those who are outside the box...the hounds just shout their mantras louder: "Unproven, dangerous, unproven, dangerous! We are the only truth, we are your only hope." As if saying it will guarantee their continued stranglehold on society. 

In 2007/8, there sprang forth a handful of exposes on the birth industry, including Ricki Lake's documentary The Business of Being Born, Jennifer Block's book Pushed and Marsden Wagner's book Born in the U.S.A.  Their message was neither new nor revolutionary (the flawed technocratic, medicalized, for-profit American birth model is rife with problems), but perhaps it was the frequency or consolidation of the voices that created ripples in the sea of public consciousness. As a result, growing numbers of women began to question the "party line" and sought alternatives. My friend, a licenced midwife in California, told me that she had never busier. As the seedlings of this rogue enlightenment nudged their way to the light of day, the threatened status quo responded in typical form to squash any growing opposition. The ACOG came out with its bald-faced lie...um, I mean statement...that homebirths are dangerous. This was followed by a bout of propaganda in which news outlets ran stories about the horrors of out-of-hospital births. My then-pregnant, homebirthing friend told me, with infuriated passion, "It makes me so angry that I want to go outside, squat in my front yard and just push this baby out!" My sentiments exactly! 

After a significant study was published in 2009 that showed planned homebirths with professional midwives were "just as safe as hospital births," the ACOG released more negative press, decrying homebirth. This kind of defensive fear-mongering flies in the face of the historical facts regarding the safety and desirability of the age-old natural birthplace...the home. As the interest in homebirth and empowered choice has grown, so has the establishment's mud-slinging. The message is clear...you cannot birth without us. The birth industry chants this disinformation as loudly as it can, using various mediums to do so (including popular television series, corporate media "news reporting," advertising, control of the medical journals, etc.).

“Women were...telling me they’d felt tremendous pressure from their medical providers to go against instinct and research—to induce labor, to schedule a cesarean, to lie back during labor when every cell in their body felt like moving. Women are supposed to push their babies out; instead, they felt they were being pushed around.”
— Jennifer Block, Pushed

One of the most irksome segments for me in The Business of Being Born was the OB interviewee who likened homebirth to driving without wearing a seatbelt. Not quite! Driving without a seatbelt in the birth realm is a couple who refuses to become informed consumers. It is a mama-to-be who doesn’t take advantage of the essential therapeutic modalities (like botanical medicine, chiropractic care, acupuncture, exercise and nourishing diet) that create a healthy baby and positive birth outcome. I’m turning the tables on the OB’s statement. Homebirth is akin to driving without a seatbelt? Nonsense.  Let's use an analogy to describe the risks women take when they enter the hospital birth industry. That scenario is akin to a woman being tranquilized, strapped into a straight jacket, shoved into a giant hamster ball and pushed toward a cliff.

The system says, “You can’t do it.” The system says, “Our way is the only way. Our drugs are safe...this procedure is necessary...you have no alternatives...those other options are dangerous, unproven, ineffective, blah, blah, blah. Trust us. Believe us. Obey us.” We listen to the voices and we make ourselves victims.  Why do we listen to the lies?  Truly, there is no substitute for the care of a well-trained, knowledgeable midwife (literally "with woman").  The birth industry cannot offer you anything that comes close.  The birth industry's drugs carry significant risks to mother and baby. Epidurals are anesthetics derived from the Caine family of drugs, such as bupivicaine (a relative of cocaine), and are often combined with opioids and narcotics.  These drugs are certainly not benign; neither is pitocin (which is not even approved for elective inductions). The birth industry's standard protocols (such as constant electronic fetal monitoring) do not facilitate the birth process, have not been proven to improve outcomes, and often lead to unnecessary and undesirable complications. Babies are negatively impacted by drugs and procedures used during hospital births...a possibility that is avoided with homebirth.  The placenta is not an impenetrable fortress through which no toxins pass.  Women understand this instinctively and work during pregnancy to protect their babies from drugs and toxins.  So why would we expose our babies to a dose of extraordinarily potent and toxic drugs during birth?

Fundamentally, it is a distrust of our bodies that makes us vulnerable to the factory system. Why do we listen? Our bodies DO work...it is a rare event that they need medical help.  We need to understand that good midwives can alleviate many undesirable acute situations that could emerge during birth at home (such as shoulder dystocia or neonatal resuscitation).  Midwives also know to recognize the signs of impending complications (both prenatally and during labor) and seek help if necessary.  But above all, midwives RESPECT and support a woman's choices in pursuing her best birth.  We need to redesign our paradigm.  We need NOT be led by fear and expect undesirable outcomes.  Expect success, work for it, and you will be amazed at the results.

As a society, we choose how young women view birth...either with fear, or with awe and confidence. The tragic irony is that for all our modern female liberation and empowerment, American women allow themselves to fall prey to the patriarchal technocratic baby delivery system that is founded on the erroneous belief that our bodies are flawed and broken and that we need to be saved from ourselves. We allow ourselves to be abused by a misuse of technology. As a culture, how far will we stray from the natural processes of life? How long will we continue to disempower women in this most natural feminine realm? Why are we allowing them to destroy our right to choose how to birth our babies? How many of you know a woman (perhaps yourself) who regrets her industrial birth outcome? How many of you know someone, mama or baby, altered or harmed by the standard procedures? Ladies, if you want to be empowered, start by taking back birth! Our daughters need not be victims of this system. We have the power to change the factory birth model and our cultural attitude...one birth at a time.

For citations, statistics and information:

The Technocratic Model of Birth
Differences Between Technocratic and Holistic Models of Care
Birth "attacks" against women
BMJ Study:  Outcomes of Planned Homebirths with CPMs
Canadian Study: Planned Homebirths Safe
The Rituals of American Hospital Birth
Midwifery Today Responds to ACOG Homebirth "Study"
Technology in Birth: First Do No Harm
The Truth About Epidurals
Risks of Epidurals
Epidural Epidemic
The Truth About Pitocin
Cesarean Rates and Information
Benefits of Waterbirth
Medication During Pregnancy Causes Fetal Damage
US Infant Mortality Rates
Deadly Delivery: Amnesty International Report
The Safe Motherhood Project
Maternal Death Rates Linked to C-Sections
Risks of High-Tech Births
Wombecology by Michael Odent
Ina May Gaskin
Midwifery Today


Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block
Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First by Marsden Wagner
Birth as an American Rite of Passage: Second Edition by Robbie Davis Floyd
Birth Models That Work by Robbie Davis Floyd
Obstetric Myths Versus Research Realities: A Guide to the Medical Literature by Henci Goer
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
Birth Matters: A Midwife's Manifesta by Ina May Gaskin
Birth without Violence by Frederick LeBoyer
Childbirth without Fear by Grantly Dick Read
Gentle Birth Choices by Barbara Harper
Birthing Normally by Gayle Peterson
Expecting Trouble: What Expectant Parents Should Know About Prenatal Care in America by Thomas Strong

The Business of Being Born DVD 

Radically Natural Recipe: GAPS Fudge, Take Two (aka Fruity Fudge)

I stumbled upon a raw chocolate fudge cake recipe over at Chocolate Covered Katie's site, and it inspired another session of GAPS fudge making in my kitchen.  My kids call this creation "freezer brownies," I call it fruity fudge pie, but we all call it DeLICiOuS!!

My first attempt involved raspberries from our neighbor's garden.  The fudge was scrumptious, but grainy...I had used the mixer without first blending the berries.  So, for my second (and more successful) iteration, I used strawberries and the blender (alas, all the raspberries found their way into our bellies before concoction number two).  The results were quite pleasing, very smooth and creamy.  You can make it either way depending on your palette's preference for texture.

This recipe will fill one standard pie dish.  You can either blend or mix (by machine or hand) the following ingredients:

1 cup ripe organic berries (or thawed frozen berries with their juices)
3/4 cup raw cacao powder
6 Tb raw grass-fed butter
6 Tb coconut butter -- see Katie's recipe (I used Tropical Traditions Coconut Concentrate)
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup raw honey
1 tsp. cinnamon

Spread mixture into pie plate and freeze until quite firm.  Non-GAPS folks could top with whipped raw cream; we will top with whipped coconut milk and extra berries.  Enjoy!

The Song of the Spin Doctors

My reading this week about the upcoming vote on the Food Bill and the ridiculous cheating and collusion shaping said bill, along with the song and dance being performed for the public, put me in a creative mood.  (Please go to the ANH site to read more about how you can stand against the "sneaky GMO amendments.")

I have long held a particular disdain for PR people and the business of spin.  I graduated with honors from a well-respected university journalism department.  Idealistic and naive, I was chagrined with my fellow School of Communications graduates who studied and sought positions in public relations.  "PR pays the way," they would say.   "There's no money in pursuing and publishing the truth."  Oh, how right they were (I learned while working as a poorly compensated journalist).  How sad, how true, how repulsive...


What irked me then infuriates me now.  And so, in my recent cogitations over the "way we live now," I composed this ode to the odious...the spin doctors and propaganda weavers for the medical industry, the food industry, and the government agencies and legislators that support them:

The Song of the Spin Doctors

Gentlemen, Ladies, we have agendas to push,
Your task is clear, your talents dear, there are rebels who must be shushed.

Don your slick suits, your muck gloves and condescendingly confident smiles,
We have slime to sell, mud to sling, a Tale to spin for miles.

Longer, louder, farther, faster,
Raise your voices, drown out critics crying “disaster!”

Up is down, Wrong is right,
Sense is stupidity, black is white.

Individuality must be stamped out…
Create fear, create doubt…
Present Experts with Clout.

Free thought, old ways, unique action must die,
They threaten our profits, the control for which we vie.

Bring out the dogs, set loose the hounds,
The Controversy is stewing, mavericks must be put down.

Present some sound bytes, force feed them as facts,
Find ridiculous specimens among our enemies and parade them as quacks.

Spin, people, Spin…
Exploit and Invent!
There are masses to be controlled and Millions to be Spent!

Join the Fight: Demand a Fair Farm Bill

An alert sponsored by the makers of the documentary Fresh, regarding the impending Farm Bill:

The House of Representatives is currently debating this bill, which could be voted on any day. Sign now to say: We want a fair farm bill that supports local, organic and sustainable food.

Please go to the site and sign the petition.  Let your voice be heard in this important Food Fight!

Radically Natural Recipe: Ever Just Have Fudge for Dinner?

Well, it happened. I was tired, hot and grumpy, and I fed my children nothing but fudge for dinner. BUT, before you judge me too harshly, fellow Real Food crunchy mamas, let me assure you that it was healthy, luscious raw butter fudge!

I used to make a similar recipe with coconut oil, but when I obtained access to raw organic grass-fed cream, I switched. Sorry, coconut oil, I love you, but game over! Friends of ours have a grass-fed Guernsey cow, giving me access to a half gallon of gorgeous Guernsey cream once a week. It makes great butter...butter that doesn't last long in this household of butter gobblers. We eat about 1/2 pound of butter daily, with rationing, and the half gallon currently makes about 1 lb. of butter. I can see why once upon a time, everyone had his own cow. Someday, we hope to have a butter cow. Until then, I beg cream off my friends!

[Warning...this fudge is addictive and not necessarily GAPS friendly (there is some debate about raw cacao).  We cheated and paid for it a bit, but I see a future of fudge once our systems are more stabilized.]

Thanks to Sarah, the Healthy Home Economist for the inspiration.  She uses carob and peanut butter, but carob is definitely GAPS illegal and I'm not a fan of the ubiquitous peanut (even organic) primarily because of the aflatoxins (I have other peanut doubts, but that's another story).  Because my son is allergic to tree nuts, we cannot substitute almond or cashew or another nut butter.  I make raw sunflower butter and it worked quite well in the recipe.  To make sunflower (or pumpkin seed) butter, soak the seeds overnight, drain and rinse, allow to dry a bit (half a day or so), then blend with a bit of sea salt and some organic melted coconut oil or organic EV olive oil...but beware your olive oil source, as many olive oils are fake or adulterated.

Nut-Free Raw Butter Cacao Fudge
1 cup raw grass-fed butter softened
1/2 cup raw sunflower butter
1/2 cup raw honey
1/2 cup raw cacao (I like Earth Circle Organics )
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tb. cinnamon

Just add everything to a mixing bowl and whip.  I made this fudge directly after making the butter, so it was soft and creamy.  Smooth the mousse-like mixture into a baking pan (I use a Pyrex Square Cake Pan) and place in the freezer.  Once it is hardened, you can cut the fudge.  Store the fudge in the freezer to keep it solid...that is, if you have anything left to store once your kids and husband have a nibble.  This butter fudge melts on your fingertips and in your mouth.  (Eating in a bowl with a spoon is a mess-free alternative; it's like cold, solid mousse.)  It's a nourishing indulgence...a butter (and chocolate) lover's dream.  

Butter Making Resources
Cultured Butter
Video: How to Make Raw Butter

Tomorrow it's grass-fed steaks, soup and salad for dinner.  Sometimes you just need to eat the fudge.  Enjoy!

My Desire for America: Stop Eating SAD and Embrace SOLE Food

I was waxing reflective today as I prepared patties for our family meal of grilled burgers and veggies.  I thought of all the American families celebrating Independence Day, which brought to my mind images of the ubiquitous July 4th meal: hamburgers and hot dogs.  And I wondered how many of those revelers would be conscious of what they were ingesting.  How much pink slime, ammonia, steroids, antibiotics, trash bits, GMOs, malevolent pathogens, feces, and chemical stew would appear on picnic plates today?  

Keely, one of our free-range, browsing milk goats

And I began to cogitate on the significance of this day in history.  Freedom.  That most essential and honorable state of existence we claim to hold dear...Freedom!  Bit by bit, year over year, so many of our fundamental freedoms have been slipping away.  Such a reality is an abomination to cravers of freedom.  As a 21st century citizen of the "most free country in the world," I wonder which battles are worth fighting?  Is victory possible?  I would like to believe that if everyone were educated on "the issues," everyone would care and most of us would be willing to act.  What that looks like, I don't know.  Individually, I can't fight every battle, nor can I give each one equal prominence.  But I believe in the strength of a united people.  So the more people who can and will join the Food Fight, the better.  And the first step to winning our freedom is freedom.  "Free your mind and the rest will follow..." 

Our free-range, pastured laying flock

A freed mind is a knowledgeable mind.  And knowledge is power.  (Wow, first I quote 1990s pop band En Vogue, now I'm quoting lines from cheesy 90s after-school cartoons...)  It really is...that's why the powerful and elite throughout history feared the education of the masses.  It's why fear-mongering is a favorite tool of regulators and industry spin doctors (promoting panic and emotion, subverting critical thinking and research).  And it's why the government, influenced by Big Ag, doesn't want consumers to have access to the truth about how food is produced in this country.  The more you know, the more likely you are to vote with your fork and abandon Big Ag.

Wilbur, our happily rooting Gloucestershire Old Spot

And that's one thing I desire for Americans...that our culture would drop its SAD (Standard American Diet) food and embrace SOLE (Sustainable, Organic, Local, Ethical) food!  CAFO-raised, sludge-fed, drug-filled meat is a cornerstone of the Standard American Diet.  Just look at the beef industry.  Oh, wait...maybe we can't.  If the industry has its way, it will be illegal for anyone to take a photo or make a video of a CAFO or industrial farm.  And honestly, this makes complete sense when considered from the perspective of Big Ag.  Because we all know that a picture is worth 1,000 words.  When we peel back the veil and observe the horrid situation that becomes the meat on American tables, we arm the public with a tool in the fight against an industry that desires continued ignorance about food quality and safety.  Showing consumers the disgusting reality of cows standing knee-deep in feces, eating unnatural substances (including recycled grease from restaurants) and being forklifted into a slaughterhouse should mobilize the public to enter the fray, fight this food fight and financially cripple the CAFO industrial model.  Oh, how I wish we would send the American food industry into the annals of history!

Would you rather eat him.....  (c. OrganicNation)

.....or him?  (c. herbalistmama)

My family no longer eats industrial food.  But there was a day when hubby and I did, because we lacked knowledge and understanding.  Now, when I drive through the midwest (as we did during our spring travels) or through central California (as we did many times when we lived in CA), when I see and smell the reality of the CAFO model, I cannot fathom eating industrial meat.  When I watch videos showing the lives and slaughterhouse deaths of CAFO animals, when I consider the unethical and unnatural treatment and feeding of those animals and the resulting ravages on our ecosystem...the toxic effects on our air, soil and water, I cannot fathom eating industrial meat.  The modern industrial agricultural model is unnatural, unhealthy, and unnecessary.  Thankfully, documentaries like Food, Inc. and Fresh, and scores of books, articles and blogs are filling the void and slowly enlightening engaged consumers.

Small-scale, organic, local farming...community clean food...is not an impossible dream.  It was life as we knew it before the Industrial Age, and it could be life again.  Industrialization brought convenience, speed, "efficiencies," division of labor...but it didn't bring health and wellness, sanity and sustainability, humane husbandry.  Pundits of the glorious industrial model have long heralded its ability to provide MORE...more food, more goods spread about to more people.  Yet, we are seeing a decline in food crop and animal breed diversity.  We have fewer kinds of food plants and animals than ever in history, with the genetic erosion occurring at alarming rates.  Our cornucopia is shrinking, not growing.  


The more conscious consumers have become, the more furiously the food fight has raged.  Consumer demand for Real Food threatens the industrial model.  That's why the dirty dairy industry puts so much pressure on regulators to vilify and outlaw raw milk, or why the confinement pork industry wants pastured producers put out of business.  This is NOT about food safety...never has been and never will be.  Food safety is the straw man offered up by an industry afraid of profit losses.  It doesn't take a Mensa member to see that the real culprit behind food-borne illness is the unsustainable, unhealthy, unnatural massive scale industrial food model (the model whose architects must cheat and lie, employing collusion and cronyism, to maintain their reign).  Look at the data from any multi-state outbreak, such as a seven-state outbreak of salmonella in late 2011, and note the commercial corporate sources.  Clean food farmers cannot even supply on that scale.  Regulators would like the public to believe that Real Food can be and is just as dangerous (or more so) than its industrial counterpart.  But examination of the facts and statistics reveal the ruse...weigh the data in the balance and the industrial food tips the scale every time.


It is time that these musings come to a close.  I neglected to fully cover the SAD topic, but that stone has been unturned numerous times in numerous forums.  I certainly would not be the first to point out the fact that Americans are sadly malnourished, while being the fattest and most-fed people on the planet.  Just because it's edible, doesn't make it food.  But rather than discoursing comprehensively about U.S. diet deficiencies, I had meat on my mind.  So before I go, I'd like to share my current formula for grain-free burgers (cannot fill with oats while on GAPS).


Tonight's burgers consisted of organic grass-fed beef, pastured ground pork, ground elk, a pastured egg, some Celtic grey sea salt, minced garlic and onion, and turmeric.  [Turmeric is a healing herb and superfood with potent anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.]  The burgers were grilled medium-rare, wrapped in fresh mustard greens and served with grilled onions, red bell peppers and zucchini.  Delicious!


I hope you enjoyed your Independence Day, and I leave you with my wish that all Americans would desire to become independent from the system of fake food, declining health and regulatory tyranny.  Hey, a girl can dream!

Bone Broth Coming to PBS

Radiant Life has posted a "first peek" video of an upcoming segment on Healing Quest TV (airing on PBS stations in July), which features WAPF VP Kaayla Daniel and holistic pediatrician Lindy Woodard discussing the merits of bone broth.  The ladies emphasize the healing benefits of nourishing traditional foods (including gut repair) and discuss how to make a healing broth.

Celebrating Crunchy Mamas and the Dads Who Love Them...

This radically natural mama wanted to give a round of applause to MamaNatural and her funny bone tickling series of videos highlighting those oh-so-comically wise things we crunchy mamas say (and do).  How many times have I said so many of these things?!  My kids were thoroughly entertained, blurting out, "that sounds like you, mom!" more than once.  Their favorite clip was (spoiler alert) what they now just call, "Run!  It's the FDA!"  The final video in the series (thus far) is a little bravo for the crunchy dads who support (and even echo) us.  My hubby enjoyed identifying with some of the all-too-familiar banter.  Hooray for the crunchy natural parents everywhere!

Radically Natural POV: Yes, Breast Always IS Best

I am a huge fan of the work of Weston Price and the WAPF; I fully support traditional diets and applaud the work the foundation does to education people about health and true nutrition...I'm a WAPF member.  But I acknowledge that the WAPF is not perfect.  Gasp!  Shocking?  Of course not...no one is perfect, not even me.

Recently, as I was reading through some post comments on one of my favorite blogs, I was reminded of some less-than-desirable breastfeeding advice shared by the WAPF.  Instead of being privately frustrated, I wanted to take a few moments to briefly address what I consider to be errors in WAPF's perspective.  But I also acknowledge that I could be misconstruing the foundation's advice, so forgive me if you feel I have improperly interpreted the information.


First, I want to say that I agree with the basic presupposition that WAPF shares in its breastfeeding information:  that it is crucial to properly nourish the mother in order to nourish the baby.  I also understand that in atypical cases, a woman is physiologically or anatomically unable to produce adequate breastmilk (I have a friend who struggles with natural milk production), but we need to understand that such a condition is rare.  If you are such a woman, feel free to skip the rest of this post, as I have no desire to cause contention or disconcertion to you.  I am addressing the "norm" here.

OK.  Now to address the problems I see when reading the breastfeeding info presented in WAPF writings.  One particular article seems to advocate early weaning, formula feeding, early introduction to solids, seems to downplay the superiority of breastmilk, and spreads seeds of doubt about the incomparable benefits of breastfeeding.  Whether those opinions are completely intentioned, they can be inferred from the writing.  We should never degrade breastfeeding just because some women have difficulty with it, and we should not gloss over the superb and essential benefits of breastfeeding because many women in the world (including the Unites States) are malnourished.

I'm sure we can all agree that feeding mama nutrient dense foods is the key to making good breastmilk.  And I know that WAPF is not in favor of commercial formula, but rather provides recipes for a more nourishing Real Food formula.  However, formula, even made from liver and grass-fed raw milk, can never equal breastmilk.  Not only is breast best, it is the perfectly designed food for humans.

Just as cow's milk is the perfect food for baby cows and zebra milk is the perfect food for baby zebras, mother's breastmilk is the perfect food for baby humans.  A baby's nutritional needs can be met by breastmilk alone for the first year of life.  Early weaning and/or early introduction to solids can create a host of problems for baby's immature digestive system, primarily gastro-intestinal upsets and subsequent allergies/sensitivities.  It is important to better promote long-term, nutritious nursing and to educate women about how to nourish their bodies.  A few weeks (even a few months) of nursing is hardly adequate to build a strong, healthy baby with vibrant immunity and robust digestion.  The worldwide "natural age" for weaning is somewhere around 3 years, yet our culture seems aghast when mamas (like myself) nurse for two years or longer (my current toddler is 30 months and has no interest in weaning).

While colostrum truly is liquid gold, extremely high in active antibodies and full of super nutrients, immunity strengthening antibodies (like IgA molecules) are passed on for well beyond the first months of breastfeeding.  [Antibodies seem to be most potent in the first six months, but they do not become nonexistent with time, they just diminish.]  These antibodies are unique to humans and unique to you for your baby.  Your breastmilk will carry some amount of antibodies as long as your body makes breastmilk...antibodies to illnesses you suffer.  I have often noted how my nursing baby/toddler is least afflicted when our family comes down with a cold/flu.

Baby's flora population depends much on breastfeeding; passing good flora to your baby is a boon to her health.  In addition to the probiotic bacteria found in breastmilk, the oligosaccharides in mama's milk feeds the beneficial bacteria in baby's gut, helping to establish good gut flora population.  The skin contact during nursing also passes your flora to baby (from nipple to mouth...flora lives on your skin, too, not just in your gut and mouth).  Be careful, however, of imbalanced pathogenic flora...consider doing GAPS to alleviate this condition before pregnancy.  

Baby's brain development relies heavily upon intake of omega fatty acids, and mother's milk contains the EPA and DHA perfectly suited to baby's needs.  The fatty acids unique to human breastmilk have an important impact on brain chemistry and on retinal and cortical development and function.

Extended breastfeeding provides more than physical health benefits to baby; the emotional bond of breastfeeding nourishes the heart and soul of both baby and mama.  Extended breastfed children tend to be more independent and confident.  Yes, at times all that nursing can be wearying, even inconvenient and painful, but it also provides joy, humor, and moments of relaxation.  In the end, this precious experience is such a short phase in our entire lives.  I wouldn't miss it for the world.

My desire would be to see WAPF partner with extended breastfeeding advocates and lactation groups to educate women on how to be nourished.  Don't give normally functioning women the comfort of thinking a formula short-cut is the same as (or better than) breastfeeding their babies.  The focus needs to be on feeding mom!  If the well-intentioned people at WAPF can teach women to make baby formula with coconut oil, liver, grass-fed raw milk, CLO, etc., they can certainly encourage women to eat those foods themselves, thus allowing mamas to provide nutrient-dense breastmilk for their babies.  Mom, if you have those foods around, put them in your body, not a baby bottle.

For more information and facts about the benefits of breastfeeding:





How Breastmilk Protects Newborns

Human Milk Is Optimal Food for Brain Development

Breastfeeding Effects on IQ

Breastfeeding and Later Cognitive and Academic Outcomes

Duration of Breastfeeding and Developmental Milestones... (scholarly abstract)

Benefits of Breastfeeding

101 Reasons to Breastfeed

Breastfeeding Past Infancy Fact Sheet

Role of Breastfeeding and Baby's Gut Health

Radically Natural Recipe: GAPS Moist, Chewy Cacao Cake

The progression through Full GAPS is a unique process depending upon your sensitivities and level of dysbiosis.  My family suffers on different levels and struggles with varying rates of healing.  But we are finally at a place where I can experiment more with baking, and we are able to occasionally enjoy this chewy chocolate treat.

This is what I consider to be a "universal" baking recipe, one that can be called cake, muffin, cupcake, even brownies.  The texture will vary depending on the amount of each ingredient used, so feel free to tweak and experiment to achieve your desired consistency.  Here's the formula we've been enjoying:



GAPS Cacao Cake
8 Tb. butter (I use 1/2 brick of Kerrygold unsalted), melted
1 cup cacao powder (I like Earth Circle Organics raw cacao)
8-10 eggs, depending on size
1 cup honey (I use raw organic honey from Azure Standard Food Co-op)
1 tsp. vanilla (I make my own with Mtn. Rose Herbs vanilla pods and brandy)
1 Tb. cinnamon (optional dashes of other spices as well, such as nutmeg, ginger, cloves...)
3/4 tsp. sea salt
3/4 cup coconut flour (I like Tropical Traditions)

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, whisk in the cacao powder and cinnamon.  Separately, whisk the eggs (I use a KitchenAid standing mixer for this recipe, but you can whisk by hand as well).  I have found that the cake is "fluffier" if you spend time whisking the eggs individually.  Add the honey, vanilla and salt, mixing well.

Add the coconut flour slowly, mixing well to avoid lumps.  Add the cacao/butter mixture and whisk thoroughly.  Pour the batter into a prepared pan (coconut-oil-greased glass or silicone) and bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees, testing with a toothpick or butter knife.

This recipe can be used in a square or rectangular cake pan, or in muffin pan.  I love the HIC Silicone Mini Muffin Pan ...that brand actually uses pure, food-grade silicone.  [You can can tell if your silicone has plastic fillers by doing a pinch test.  Just squeeze together an inch of the silicone and see if it turns white...if so, you have fillers and I would advise against using that pan for baking.]

This recipe was inspired by one I found at The Well Fed Homestead.  Hers is different but just as delicious, so check it out as well (Fudgy Coconut Flour Brownies).  I must credit my eldest son for our latest iteration of this cake recipe; he is becoming a fantastic chef and is developing excellent kitchen instincts!

[A little culinary/food snob trivia:  You may notice the different spellings of cocoa and cacao.  The common vernacular is cocoa, as in processed cocoa powder, but the more authentic term is cacao, as in cacao pod/bean/tree or raw cacao powder, and it is pronounced cuh-cow.  Chocolate and cocoa are derived from the cacao tree.]

Another great coconut chocolate cake recipe can be found at the Tropical Traditions web site, for those of you not doing GAPS.  The video below is a good step-by-step guide; note the emphasis on beating the eggs separately.

Well, I Guess We're All Just a Bunch of Jerks

I'm sorry, I wasn't going to spend one minute on this, but I just couldn't help myself.  My kiddos are occupied with their Dad, so here goes...


Have you seen the ridiculous new "scientific research" that says eating organic food makes you a jerk?  REALLY?!  We have time for that kind of research now?  I'm sorry, but it seems to me that even pursuing such a hypothesis is a royal waste of time.  And, seriously, Who Cares?!  Are there not so many vastly more important issues to be pursued by researchers, scientists and John Q. Public?



The "study," conducted by a Loyola U. prof, querying 62 undergraduates, concluded that Organic food consumers are less altruistic and more judgmental.  (Wow...judgmental, stingy people...I think we just described vast members of the multitudes.)  And how did said professor determine this verdict?  By showing three student participant groups pictures of Organic and non-Organic food (no food was purchased or eaten by the participants), and then asking them to make judgments about certain activities (like shoplifting, bribery and incest).  


Because 20% of the students who viewed the pictures of Organic foods were "harsher" in their judgments of the immoral behaviour, and because they were not quick to volunteer for another study, we are served up the conclusion that eating Organic makes you judgmental and selfish.  Hence the headline: "Organic Food Might Make You a Jerk."  Wow!  What a compelling and airtight piece of scientific investigation and interpretation!  (Pardon me for my jerkish moment of sarcasm.)


I'm not sure what's worse...the fact that the professor made his "judgments" without actually investigating the everyday lives of actual Organic consumers, or that he is attempting to suggest that it is wrong to correctly judge immoral behaviour?  I'm not sure who to chide for this study...was it sponsored by an Industrial Food Corporation or by some Socialist thought police group (aka: certain government leaders and wealthy megalomaniacs who believe we should live in a world with no absolute truth; who would allow no differences in lifestyles, belief systems and opinions; that there is no right or wrong)?


So, if we play along for just a moment with the silly study's premises and conclusions, we find that people who buy Organic have a superiority complex...they are condescending, perhaps?  Hmmm...seems to me I've heard this tune before.  Let's see...(again, just pretending that this "scientific" premise and conclusion were accurate) are Organic food eaters unique in their jerkiness?  Not quite!  Profusions of people from the beginning of time have had superiority complexes...people look down on others for myriad reasons:  ethnicity, religion, social status, personality, you name it.  Methinks this problem is nothing new.


I can think of loads of people who act condescendingly and judgmental to others...who believe we "little people" need to be put in our place.  How about some of the persons with the initials MD behind their names?  How about aggressive government agents toting guns and cuffs?  (That's right, I'm talking about you, power-hungry-arrest-happy-no-warrant-needed-going-after-citizens-who-defy-us-and-sell-Real-Food, FDA!)


OK, now that I've got that off my chest, allow me to say this:  I don't believe anyone should act like a jerk to anyone else.  It's simply bad human conduct.  I have been on the receiving end of jerks...we all have.  Most of my experiences have not been with people who eat Real Food and I truly hope yours are not.  And, as for myself, I know I tend to rail...I get passionate...I try to direct my anger (righteous, I'd like to believe) at the correct villains.  Yes, I'm a food snob.  But that means I'm quite picky about my food choices...it doesn't mean I pick on others for theirs.  Rather, I'm concerned for people who live with unhealthy food choices.  I'm concerned for their children.  That's why I try to teach good nutrition...the truth about Real Food...to spur anyone not already "in the know" toward nourishing choices.  It's because I care.  If that makes me a jerk, well, I'll wear that badge.  I'll be the nicest jerk in town.  And I'll encourage any "scientists" I meet to spend their time (and grant givers' money) on more appropriate, worthy, positive life-changing venues.

Celebrating One Year on GAPS...Recipes and My Favorite Things

It's the end of May (wow, how did that even happen?), which brings our family to the one-year anniversary of our GAPS protocol.  From thinking that Intro would literally kill me (initial die off was severe), to having children complain 101 times about "soup AGAIN?!," we persevered, learned some tricks, and actually came to like many of our new GAPS meals.  Thus, we celebrate the end of Year One, hopefully the halfway point for our GAPS journey.  In honor of this momentous occasion, I wanted to share with you some recipes and a list of a few of my "favorite things."  [Cue Julie Andrews swirling in a lush high-mountain Alps meadow, swelling music, and.....la da da da dee dum.....ooh, look...grass-fed raw butter...run, children, run to the butter!  ahem...er...  Have I mentioned how much I adore butter?]



I think the recipes, foods and tools about to make their appearance here would appeal to anyone, GAPS or no GAPS.  In fact, only the baked goods are specific to my life with GAPS.  Actually, the recipes I'm planning to share are inhabitants of my favorites list, so let's just go directly to the list.  In no particular order, of course...


Buttered Dates

My toddler and her date

Yes, I lead with the ultimate GAPS indulgence.  At least, MY ultimate GAPS indulgence.  I know I've mentioned these goodies before, but the pleasure bears repeating.  In my life pre-GAPS, sea-salt-sprinkled dark chocolate-covered caramels were my ultimate guilty little pleasure.  Hubby would surprise me with a small box from various cities on his business travel schedule, and I would happily hoard and hide the precious loot.  Did I mention it was a guilty pleasure?  My post-baby waistline most certainly groaned about my favorite decadence.  Fast-forward to life on GAPS, post-Intro.  When I finally felt ready to introduce fruits, I yearned for medjool dates.  Perhaps this craving was instinctual, as many cravings can be, for my body desperately needs magnesium.  Because I find the sugars in dried fruit to be rather potent for my system, I began buttering the dates to increase nutrient absorption and buffer the sugar "high."  It worked, and a favorite evening treat was born.  I find medjool dates slathered with salted Kerrygold butter to impart a flavor so reminiscent of creamy caramels that I no longer feel deprived of my one-time obsession.


Coconut Flour Butter Cookies

Following the sweet trend I've begun, I wanted to share the recipe my eldest son and I concocted.  These cookies are a rare delicacy for us because my middle child is still sensitive to coconut.  We cannot use any of the other nut flours common to the GAPS protocol because of his severe (but improving) reaction to nuts.  I can get away with infrequent uses of coconut flour and cream without causing too bad a flareup for the little guy.  After a few iterations of these cookies, this final version became the family favorite.




Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (we're using Kerrygold most often for baking)
5 to 6 eggs (preferably pastured)
1/3 cup granulated coconut sugar (or 1/4 + cup honey)
Dash each ginger, cloves, nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup + coconut flour
Fruit-only jam (like St. Dalfour All Natural Fruit Spread or Bionaturae Organic Fruit Spread)

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs and beat on low speed until well incorporated.  Add the spices, then add the flour, mixing on low speed.  Depending upon the water content of your eggs and butter, your relative humidity and the phases of the moon (LOL), you may need to add more coconut flour to achieve a batter consistency.  This batter should not be runny...it should be thick, but not stiff like you're making play-doh; spoonable thick.  Add extra coconut flour slowly, incrementally, until all ingredients are well blended and consistency looks good.  Spoon globs of batter onto parchment or Silpat-lined cookie trays; you can flatten the cookies a bit with your finger.  Optional:  Indent the top of each cookie and add a dollop of jam into the depression.  (We make them both ways, but love the jam dots.)  Bake at 375 for 12ish minutes; the cookies should be golden brown and firm to the touch.


Raw Goat's Milk Yogurt
We currently have one milking doe in production, so our supply of browse/grass-fed raw goat milk is a precious commodity.  We get 1 quart daily, which awaits its twin from the next day and then becomes yogurt.  I use the countertop Villi starter from Cultures for Health and I always make the yogurt raw (excepting the pure starter, as per the instructions).  I know my picture reveals a food-fermenting no-no (as my yogurt cultures in the window), but in our still-chilly, winter-like house, that space above the baseboard heater is the warmest spot I have; it provides the most successful culture.  I hope to find a darker warm location as the heat increases.

Culturing the yogurt in our warmest location

Now, I exaggerate not...this yogurt is the creamiest, sweetest, tastiest yogurt I have ever eaten...it beats cow's milk yogurt any day.  Sure, I'm partial to the health advantages of goat's milk for human consumption (more easily digestible, more suitable to our human makeup), but I kid you not (see, I managed to fit in a pun), this raw goat's milk yogurt is dreamy.  One caveat...I am having trouble keeping my starter alive this spring.  We live in a very moist pacific northwest environ and I believe the natural molds in the air are competing with the flora in my culture.  The yogurt has been on the runny side.  But, this too shall pass.  Having this traditionally fermented pro-biotic food for our diet has been a culinary and gut health boon.


Savory Roaster

I credit my latest cooking tool find to my mother-in-law, who pulled out her mom's antique roaster during our visit last month.  The enameled (steel? iron? aluminum?  I honestly don't know) large oval roaster will hold a small turkey or a couple nice sized roasts.  I have used mine to cook pork and beef roasts to perfection.  The supposed secret to the Savory Roaster's success is the rounded bottom and well-fitting lid.  These roasters are out of production, but I found a great-condition roaster on ebay.  There is a Savory Jr. Roaster that is about half the size of the Daddy roaster, but they are far harder to find and much more costly.  Now don't get me wrong, I still love my crock pot...it saves me so much time and makes sure my kids get fed when I've forgotten to plan the next day's meals.  But a savory roast, well, it puts me in mind of an Old Testament story in the Bible of Isaac on his death bed requesting his favorite meal..."And make me savory meat, such as I love..."  I couldn't agree more...I love my savory meat.


Beef Roast Recipe
I grab a roast or two from the freezer (from our sumptuous Hat Creek dry-aged, grass-fed beef stash), pop it in the roaster, add a cup of stock (from whatever I have made), add a few chopped onions, some bruised garlic cloves, a few roughly chopped carrots, a couple bay leaves, a generous dousing of sea salt, a sprinkling of thyme, basil, marjoram (whatever suits my fancy that day), place it in a 400 degree oven for a couple hours (testing for doneness when prompted by smell...no worries, the longer it cooks, the more tender it becomes), and voila!  Yummy roast meat.


Nakiri-Bocho

Nakiri-bocho handcrafted from Hitachi White steel

This is my newest favorite toy...the latest addition to my knife collection.  I love many culinary tools, but my knives are by far the most essential tools in my kitchen.  And I refuse to use inferior tools that don't get the job done, so I keep my knives scary sharp.  My husband learned years ago how to sharpen my blades (and his own hand carving woodworking tools) on Japanese waterstones.  His technique has improved dramatically since studying the work (DVDs and in person) of Murray Carter, a Japanese-trained master bladesmith who resides in Oregon.  Dear hubby gifted me with one of Carter's Japanese kitchen knives, the Nakiri-bocho vegetable knife.  The blade on this knife is amazing...very thin and Super Scary Sharp.  It cuts through vegetables like melted butter.  The cut is so smooth and clean, you can even taste the difference.  The vegetable slices are even healthier...truly...the less cellular damage you do when you cut your food, the less oxidation occurs.  That's one reason Japanese sushi chefs (some of my heroes) cut their delicacies so carefully and with such sharp blades.


Herbed Scrambled Eggs with Butter

The locally handmade pottery makes the eggs even more delicous!

Barred Rocks roaming

Thanks to the coming of spring and the ladies who lay, we are finally getting about a dozen of our own beyond organic, pastured eggs daily (though the pasture is sorely lacking up here...that's another story). Eggs are a staple here, as in most GAPS households, and we love ours in all their forms.  A favorite breakfast is herby scrambled eggs, which we make by mixing a dozen eggs with a small amount of stock (again, from whatever is on hand), sea salt, pepper, and various herbs (basil, chives, garlic, parsley, etc).  After scrambling in generous amounts of pastured lard, we serve the eggs with butter.  Ah, healing, delicious fats, how I love thee!

Spring brings us a Rainbow

You guessed it!

Whew, I see I've created quite a page here...I imagine I should call it quits for now.  I neglected to mention our fabulous nourishing, detoxifying juice and the machine that makes it, as well as my GAPS birthday cake and the scrumptious GAPS mashed "potatoes."  Ah, well...another post for another day!  Until next time, enjoy your spring and savour some of my favorite mostly still-forbidden food for me...I'll live vicariously.

Traveling GAPS

Well, I've finally returned to finish the GAPS post I started before the happy arrival of our first goat kid of spring.  Our second pregnant doe is due this week, so we are in eager anticipation for more babies.  But I digress.....back to the GAPS travelogue:


If I had begun my preparations for our three-week journey a month before departure, I may not have felt fully equipped.  Of course, real life intruded and my intended two-week prep dwindled to four days.  My goal was to produce GAPS food provisions for our three-week-long, 3,800-mile driving/camping journey.  [Hubby corrected my teaser headline of two weeks ago..."It wasn't 3,400 miles, it was 3,800."  I suggested the difference was inconsequential, to which he replied, "No way...I drove it, it counts!"  And so it does!]  Despite a few miscalculations and short cuts, the dietary aspects of our journey proved to be successful.



Our trek involved traveling across multiple states to visit family and friends.  We drove our beast of a pickup truck, pulling our camper...our home on the road.  The food plan was based upon the assumption that we would need to cook/provide all our own meals.  [It was a serendipitous blessing, however, to find family and friends had made provision to feed our GAPS family, which alleviated the burden of my need to cook every meal from scratch while on the road.]  This was our first trip in the camper, and its existence  made this road trip much easier, especially for the numerous bathroom and meal stops required by our crew.  I had outfitted the camper with (almost) all the food necessary to keep us on protocol while away from home; the convenience factor of pulling over and firing up a cookstove was invaluable.


The camper is equipped with two small refrigerators and freezers, but they are inoperable while the camper is moving.  They work well as coolers, though, providing ample cold storage space when packed with frozen items.  The week before our departure, I roasted a turkey and a ham (both harvested from our organic pasture-based "homestead" this past fall).  I cut off all the meat and froze it, then used the carcasses for stock, which I bottled and froze in half gallon canning jars.  I made a batch of turkey soup and included it with the jarred stock supply.  I packed six stock and soup jars, hoping they would sustain our minimal daily stock needs while away from home (they did, thanks to loved ones who prepared soups for us along the way).  Once I had our stock supply squared away, I turned my attention to the other critical GAPS staple...our probiotic foods.  I had prepared two half gallon jars of sauerkraut and four half gallon jars of raw goat-milk yogurt (the BEST yogurt I have ever eaten, let alone made, in my life...a future Radically Natural rave).



Other principal foods included eggs, olive oil, butter, sea salt and pepper (and other herbs/spices), coconut milk, raisins, dates, and a jar of raw honey (how could we live without our high-carb indulgences? LOL).  The week before we left, I purchased multiple dozens of eggs to supplement the small stash I had saved from our laying hens (the ladies have been slacking here).  Numerous packages of grass-fed beef (roasts, ground), salmon and pastured bacon accompanied the aforementioned frozen turkey and ham.  I threw in a few cans of tuna, bottled a batch of mayonnaise, and packed a bag of onions and garlic heads.  Some carrots, apples, cucumbers and frozen peas rounded out the stash.  We weren't intending to leave civilization for three weeks, thus planned to procure organic produce as necessary.


In all, my endeavour to keep us on GAPS while traveling bore good fruit.  The kitchen-on-the-go made all the difference, not to mention the kitchens made available to us through generous hospitality.  Unlike hotel vacations or tent camping, house stays and campers provide real food facilities and the opportunity to pursue nourishment rather than off-protocol cheating.  Next post, I plan to share recipes and rave about some new favorite culinary prep items.  Until next time, be well and enjoy spring!

We're Kidding Over Here!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled post to bring you good tidings of goat birth!  Yes, the first baby of spring arrived this evening.  I was literally typing my "Traveling GAPS" post when I heard my hubby call, "Get out here, I see feet!"  I got to play goat midwife, and believe me, I earned my stripes tonight.  Allow me to spin the saga.  

We have two pregnant does this spring to add to our tiny little milking herd (the only other member is our current milking doe, so it is a small band).  Our first experience with goat birth came last spring when Keely had her babies, becoming our first milking doe.  Her birth (sorry, kidding is the farming term...but I still think in terms of human birth...and all this farm stuff is still quite new to me) was so easy, so "textbook," so uneventful; we just enjoyed the cuteness of our first baby goats.


Tonight's birth was not so smooth.  Piper did not display normal signs of imminent birth today, but she showed enough discomfort, loss of appetite and mucus activity that we knew birth would happen this weekend.  Her contractions were abnormal, however, so I was taken off guard when I heard that baby was coming.  I was excited and not anticipating problems, but I'm glad I brushed up on my goat kidding literature earlier today.  


So when I heard hubby's call, I sent out a prayer for wisdom, pulled on my muck boots and ran to the goat pen.  I knew as soon as I saw Piper and the barely emerging kid that something was amiss.  Now, I'm absolutely NOT a goat kidding expert.  But I read multiple sources on prepping for the event last year, and I'm no stranger to midwifery in general.  The basics of birth are fundamentally the same, of course, but dealing with the pregnant/birthing mama in the animal kingdom is a far cry from the human ladies.  The biggest difficulty is that I don't speak goat...and she doesn't speak English (a fact that apparently skipped my mind as I was telling her to push.  LOL!).

The problem I encountered when I arrived on the scene was a breech posterior kid and a mama who was not pushing.  She was barely contracting.  I knew when I saw the hooves pointing the "wrong" way that we had a potential disaster on our hands.  In normal anterior position, the kid is coming out front feet and face first, body right side up.  In breech posterior position, kid is upside down and backwards.  Various malpresentations exist, some more detrimental than this, but our situation required action.  I remembered reading about how to pull the kid out of mama if baby is presenting posteriorly, how to do a manual check to verify said position, how kids are stronger than you think so pulling them out isn't as damaging as you imagine, and that time was of the essence because the kid could perish if left too long in that position.  I knew that I needed to pull that baby out, which goes against my natural instincts as a noninterventionist.  But when lives are on the line, it's good to know what to do.  It was time for appropriate intervention.

The difficulty was that Piper wouldn't push!  According to my reading, the birthing assistant pulls the kid gently but firmly downward and outward while the mama pushes.  In this case, mama wasn't helping.  Baby was stuck inside in the wrong position, and this goat midwife went into adrenaline overload.  So I begin pulling the baby, remembering "time is of the essence," and all the while I'm saying to the goat, "Push, Piper, Push!!"  And my husband's saying, "Get aggressive, be firm...pull that baby out."  And the little hooves were slippery and my heart's pounding in my ears, and I'm praying, "Please Lord, don't let this baby be dead," as my children are standing there eagerly watching what was supposed to be a blessed event.


Suddenly, after what felt like a herculean tug, out popped baby goat!  Limp baby goat...ah, oh...oh, dear...  And then I switched into command midwife mode and within seconds I had my eldest son handing me the bulb syringe and helping to pull mucus and amniotic sac out of nose and mouth, and.....finally, we're laughing.  Thank you, God, baby goat is sneezing and breathing.  Mama began her nurturing attentions and immediately began licking the mucus away, and the baby was squirming and mewing and all was well.


But, goats usually birth multiple kids.  And subsequent kids generally come on the heels (yes, yes, pun intended) of their siblings.  In Piper's case, nothing was happening.  We waited ten minutes.  I began to worry, based on having observed her not push and barely contract.  How many more kids are in there?  If she is experiencing labor dystocia, will she even be able to birth the other kid?  I began to have visions of dead baby goats and a septic, dying mama and wailing children.  I did the only thing I knew to do.  I went in for a manual check to see if another kid was in the canal.  Nothing.  I attempted to palpate her belly to feel for more kids...that was slightly comical.  Ah, how easy human birth is in comparison.  When you palpate a woman's belly you can actually feel baby.  Not so with a barrel-bellied goat.  I tried jiggling upward and side to side to see if a baby inside would bounce against the walls.  I felt nothing and Piper was quite displeased, to say the least.  It wasn't a very telling sign of anything.

We played the waiting game for 30 minutes, using the time to get baby goat on mama's teat, a crucial aspect to baby's survival.  My children were tired and hungry and we decided there was nothing more we could do, so I went inside to get a friend's emergency vet recommendation (just in case...although not a holistic option) and to start dinner.  Five minutes into onion dicing, I hear hubby calling, "I see a placenta!"  Ah, music to my ears.  Passing the placenta means the kidding is over...no more babies.  So instead of my dramatic imaginings of impending doom, we merely experienced an abnormal singleton birth.  What a relief!  Piper did the normal, natural thing and made a snack of her placenta, the final stage in kidding.  [I'm sure this practice in the animal realm has multiple instinctual purposes, but I know that for both humans and animals, ingesting the placenta is a boon for postpartum hormonal recovery.  It made a big difference for me with baby number three...no PPD.  Two thumbs up for encapsulated placenta, ladies!]


As I write this, mama and baby are doing fine.  Baby Calico is walking and suckling and Mama Piper seems content with her newfound motherhood.  Hopefully both will pass well through the night and the next few weeks, during which we will enjoy another episode of goat birth...Bambi is due next week.


OK, thanks for allowing me to share my drama.  Now that the adrenaline rush has subsided, I realize I fully enjoyed my work as goat midwife tonight.  Maybe Bambi will have a breech presentation!  Ah, just kidding!!!